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Henceforth  my  own  lady -mother  is  the  mistress  of  this  castle,  and  who- 
ever speaks  a  rude  word  to  her  offends  the  Freiherr  von  Adlerstein.' " 
Page  183. 


uauKf 


DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST 


By  CHARLOTTE  M.  YONGE. 


ILLUSTRATED. 


NEW  YORK: 

A.  L.  BURT,  PUBLISHER. 


•   •• •  •       •     • ' 


9^^ 
do 

€DUC. 
U8RA8V 


INTRODUCTION. 

In  sending  forth  this  little  book,  I  am  inclined  to 
add  a  few  explanatory  words  as  to  the  use  I  have 
made  of  historical  personages.  The  origin  of  the 
whole  story  was  probably  Freytag's  first  series  of 
pictures  of  German  life:  probably,  I  say,  for  its 
first  commencement  was  a  dream,  dreamed  some 
weeks  after  reading  that  most  interesting  collection 
of  sketches.  The  return  of  the  squire  with  the  tid- 
ings of  the  death  of  the  two  knights  was  vividly 
depicted  in  sleep ;  and,  though  without  local  habita- 
tion or  name,  the  scene  was  most  likely  to  have 
been  a  reflection  from  the  wild  scenes  so  lately 
read  of. 

In  fact,  waking  thoughts  decided  that  such  a  catas- 
trophe could  hardly  have  happened  anywhere  but  in 
Germany,  or  in  Scotland  :  and  the  contrast  between 
the  cultivation  in  the  free  cities  and  the  savagery  of 
the  independent  barons  made  the  former  the  more 
suitable  region  for  the  adventures.  The  time  could 
only  be  before  the  taming  and  bringing  into  order 
of  the  empire,  when  the  imperial  cities  were  in  their 
greatest  splendor,  the  last  free  nobles  in  course  of 
being  reduced  from  their  lawless  liberty,  and  the 
House  of  Austria  beginning  to  acquire  its  prepon- 
derance over  the  other  princely  families. 


587440 


iv  INTRODUCTION. 

M.  Freytag's  books,  and  Hegewisch's  "  History  of 
Maximilian,"  will,  I  think,  be  found  fully  to  bear  out 
the  picture  I  have  tried  to  give  of  the  state  of  things 
in  the  reign  of  the  Emperor  Friedrich  III.,  vrhen, 
for  want  of  any  other  law,  Faust  recht,  or  fist  right, 
ruled ;  ^.  ^.,  an  offended  nobleman,  having  once  sent 
a  Fehde-hrief  to  his  adversary,  was  thenceforth  at 
liberty  to  revenge  himself  by  a  private  war,  in  which, 
for  the  wrong  inflicted,  no  justice  was  exacted. 

Hegewisch  remarks  that  the  only  benefit  of  this 
custom  was,  that  the  honor  of  subscribing  a  feud- 
brief  was  so  highly  esteemed  that  it  induced  the 
nobles  to  learn  to  write !  The  League  of  St.  George 
and  the  Swabian  League  were  the  means  of  grad- 
ually putting  down  this  authorized  condition  of 
deadly  feud. 

This  was  in  the  days  of  Maximilian's  youth.  He 
is  a  prince  who  seems  to  have  been  almost  as 
inferior  in  his  foreign,  to  what  he  was  in  his  domestic 
policy  as  was  Queen  Elizabeth.  He  is  chiefly  fa- 
miliar to  us  as  failing  to  keep  up  his  authority  in 
Flanders  after  the  death  of  Mary  of  Burgundy,  as 
lingering  to  fulfill  his  engagement  with  Anne  of 
Brittany  till  he  lost  her  and  her  duchy,  as  incurring 
ridicule  by  his  ill-managed  schemes  in  Italy,  and  the 
vast  projects  that  he  was  always  forming  without 
either  means  or  steadiness  to  carry  them  out,  by  his 
perpetual  impecuniosity  and  slippery  dealing ;  and 
in  his  old  age  he  has  become  rather  the  laughing- 
stock of  historians. 

But  there  is  much  that  is  melancholy  in  the  sight 


tNTRODVGTION.  V 

of  a  man  endowed  with  genius,  unbalanced  by  the 
force  of  character  that  secures  success,  and  with  an 
ardent  nature  T^hose  intention  overleaped  obstacles 
that  in  practice  he  found  insuperable.  At  home 
Maximilian  raised  the  imperial  power  from  a  mere 
cipher  to  considerable  weight.  We  judge  him  as  if 
he  had  been  born  in  the  purple  and  succeeded  to  a 
defined  power  Hke  his  descendants.  We  forget  that 
the  head  of  the  holy  Eoman  empire  had  been,  ever 
since  the  extinction  of  the  Swabian  line,  a  mere 
mark  for  ambitious  princes  to  shoot  at,  with  every- 
thing expected  from  him,  and  no  means  to  do  any- 
thing. Maximilian's  own  father  was  an  avaricious, 
undignified  old  man,  not  until  near  his  death  arch- 
duke of  even  all  Austria,  and  with  anarchy  prevail- 
ing everywhere  under  his  nominal  rule.  It  was  in 
the  time  of  Maximilian  that  the  empire  became  as 
compact  and  united  a  body  as  could  be  hoped  of 
anything  so  unwieldy,  that  law  was  at  least  acknowl- 
edged, Faust  recht  forever  abolished,  and  the  em- 
peror became  once  more  a  real  power. 

The  man  under  whom  all  this  was  effected  could 
have  been  no  fool ;  yet,  as  he  said  himself,  he  reigned 
over  a  nation  of  kings,  who  each  chose  to  rule  for 
himself ;  and  the  uncertainty  of  supplies  of  men  or 
money  to  be  gained  from  them  made  him  so  often 
fail  necessarily  in  his  engagements,  that  he  acquired 
a  shiftiness  and  callousness  to  breaches  of  promise, 
which  became  the  worst  fiaw  in  his  character.  But 
of  the  fascination  of  his  manner  there  can  be  no 
doubt.    Even  Henry  YIII.'s  English  ambassadors, 


vi  INTRODUCTION. 

when  forced  to  own  how  little  they  could  depend  on 
him,  and  how  dangerous  it  was  to  let  subsidies  pass 
through  his  fingers,  still  show  themselves  under  a 
sort  of  enchantment  of  devotion  to  his  person,  and 
this  in  his  old  age,  and  when  his  conduct  was  most 
inexcusable  and  provoking. 

His  variety  of  powers  was  wonderful.  He  was 
learned  in  many  languages — in  all  those  of  his  em- 
pire of  hereditary  states,  and  in  many  besides  ;  and 
he  had  an  ardent  love  of  books,  both  classical  and 
modern.  He  delighted  in  music,  painting,  architec- 
ture, and  many  arts  of  a  more  mechanical  descrip- 
tion ;  wrote  treatises  on  all  these,  and  on  other  sub- 
jects, especially  gardening  and  gunnery.  He  was 
the  inventor  of  an  improved  lock  to  the  arquebus, 
and  first  divined  how  to  adapt  the  disposition  of  his 
troops  to  the  use  of  the  newly-discovered  fire-arms. 
And  in  all  these  things  his  versatile  head  and  ready 
hand  were  personally  employed,  not  by  deputy ; 
while  coupled  with  so  much  artistic  taste  was  a  vio- 
lent passion  for  hunting,  which  carried  him  through 
many  hair-breadth  'scapes.  "  It  was  plain,"  he  used 
to  say,  "  that  God  Almighty  ruled  the  world,  or  how 
could  things  go  on  with  a  rogue  like  Alexander  YI. 
at  the  head  of  the  church,  and  a  mere  huntsman  like 
himself  at  the  head  of  the  empire."  His  hon^mots 
are  numerous,  all  thoroughly  characteristic,  and 
showing  that  brilliancy  in  conversation  must  have 
been  one  of  his  greatest  charms.  It  seems  as  if  only 
self-control  and  resolution  were  wanting  to  have 
made  him  a  Charles,  or  an  Alfred  the  Great. 


INTRODUCTION.  vii 

The  romance  of  his  marriage  with  the  heiress  of 
Burgundy  is  one  of  the  best-knoAvn  parts  of  his  life. 
He  was  scarcely  two-and-twenty  when  he  lost  her, 
who  perhaps  would  have  given  him  the  stability  he 
wanted ;  but  his  tender  love  for  her  endured  through 
life.  It  is  not  improbable  that  it  was  this  still 
abiding  attachment  that  made  him  slack  in  overcom- 
ing difficulties  in  the  way  of  other  contracts,  and 
that  he  may  have  hoped  that  his  engagement  to 
Bianca  Sforza  would  come  to  nothing,  like  so  many 
others. 

The  most  curious  record  of  him  is,  however,  in 
two  books,  the  materials  for  which  he  furnished,  and 
whose  composition  and  illustration  he  superintended, 
'*  Der  Weise  King,"  and  "  Theurdank,"  of  both  of 
which  he  is  well  known  to  be  the  hero.  The  White, 
or  the  Wise  King,  it  is  uncertain  which,  is  a  history 
of  his  education  and  exploits  in  prose.  Every  alter- 
nate page  has  its  engraving,  showing  how  the 
Young  White  King  obtains  instruction  in  painting, 
architecture,  language,  and  all  arts  and  sciences, 
the  latter  including  magic — ^^vhich  he  learns  of  an 
old  woman  with  a  long-tailed  demon  sitting,  like 
Mother  Hubbard's  cat,  on  her  shoulder — and  astrol- 
ogy. In  the  illustration  of  this  study  an  extraor- 
dinary figure  of  a  cross  within  a  circle  appears  in 
the  sky,  which  probably  has  some  connection  with 
his  scheme  of  nativity,  for  it  appears  also  on  the 
breast  of  Ehrenhold,  his  constant  companion  in  the 
metrical  history  of  his  career,  under  the  name  of 
Theurdank, 


viii  INTRODUCTION. 

The  poetry  of  "  Theurdank "  was  composed  by 
Maximilian's  old  writing-master,  Melchior  Pfinznig ; 
but  the  adventures  were  the  kaiser's  own,  communi- 
cated by  himself,  and  he  superintended  the  wood- 
cuts. The  name  is  explained  to  mean  "  craving 
glory" — Gloriaememor.  The  Germans  laugh  to 
scorn  a  French  translator,  who  rendered  it  "  Cher- 
merci."  It  was  annotated  very  soon  after  its  publi- 
cation, and  each  exploit  explained  and  accounted 
for.  It  is  remarkable  and  touching  in  a  man  who 
married  at  eighteen,  and  was  a  widower  at  twenty- 
two,  that  in  both  books,  the  happy  union  with  his 
lady  love  is  placed  at  the  end — not  at  the  beginning 
of  the  book ;  and  in  "  Theurdank,"  at  least,  the  eter- 
nal reunion  is  clearly  meant. 

In  this  curious  book,  Konig  Eomreich,  by  whom 
every  contemporary  understood  poor  Charles  of  Bur- 
gundy— thus  posthumously  made  king  of  Eome  by 
Maximilian,  as  the  only  honor  in  his  power,  betroths 
his  daughter,  Ehrenreich  (rich  in  honor)  to  the  Kit- 
ter  Theurdank.  Soon  after,  by  a  most  mild  version 
of  Duke  Charles'  frightful  end,  Konig  Eomreich  is 
seen  on  his  back  dying  in  a  garden,  and  Ehrenreich 
(as  Mary  really  did)  despatches  a  ring  to  summon 
her  betrothed. 

But  here  Theurdank  returns  for  answer  that  he 
means  first  to  win  honor  by  his  exploits,  and  sets 
out  with  his  comrade,  Ehrenhold,  in  search  thereof. 
Ehrenhold  never  appears  of  the  smallest  use  to  him 
hi  any  of  the  dire  adventures  mto  which  he  falls, 
but  only  stands  complacently  by,  and  in  effect  may 


INTRODUCTION.  ix 

represent  Fame,  or  perhaps  that  literary  sage  whom 
Don  Quixote  always  supposed  to  be  at  hand  to 
record  his  deeds  of  prowess. 

ISText  we  are  presented  with  the  German  imper- 
sonation of  Satan  as  a  wise  old  magician,  only  with 
claws  instead  of  feet,  commissioning  his  three  cap- 
tains {hauptleutern)^  Fiirwitz,  Umfallo,  and  Neidel- 
hard,  to  beset  and  ruin  Theurdank.  They  are  inter- 
preted as  the  dangers  of  youth,  middle  life,  and  old 
age — ^Eashness,  Disaster  and  Distress  (or  Envy). 
One  at  a  time  they  encounter  him — not  once,  but 
again  and  again ;  and  he  has  ranged  under  each 
head,  in  entire  contempt  of  real  order  of  time,  the 
perils  he  thinks  owing  to  each  foe.  Fiirwitz  most 
justly  gets  the  credit  of  Maximilian's  perils  on  the 
steeple  of  Ulm,  though,  unfortunately,  the  artist 
has  represented  the  daring  climber  as  standing  not 
much  above  the  shoulders  of  Fiirwitz  and  Ehren- 
hold ;  and  although  the  annotation  tells  us  that  his 
"  hinder  half  foot "  overhung  the  scaffold,  the 
danger  in  the  print  is  not  appalling.  Fiirwitz  like- 
wise inveigles  him  into  putting  the  point  {schnahel) 
of  his  shoe  into  the  wheel  of  a  mill  for  turning 
stone  balls,  where  he  certainly  hardly  deserved  to 
lose  nothing  but  the  beak  of  his  shoe.  This  enemy 
also  brings  him  into  numerous  unpleasant  predica- 
ments on  precipices,  where  he  hangs  by  one  hand ; 
while  the  chamois  stand  delighted  on  every  avail- 
able peak,  Fiirwitz  grins  malevolently,  and  Ehren- 
hold  stands  pointing  at  him  over  his  shoulder.  Time 
and  place  are  given  in  the  notes  for  all  these  escapes. 


3t  tNTRODUGTiOl^. 

After  some  twenty  adventures  Fiirwitz  is  beaten  off, 
and  Umfallo  tries  his  powers.  Here  the  misadven- 
tures do  not  involve  so  much  folly  on  the  hero's 
part — though,  to  be  sure,  he  ventures  into  a  lion's 
den  unarmed,  and  has  to  beat  off  the  inmates  with 
a  shovel.  But  the  other  adventures  are  more 
rational.  He  catches  a  jester — of  admirably  foolish 
expression — putting  a  match  to  a  powder-magazine ; 
he  is  wonderfully  preserved  in  mountain  avalanches 
and  hurricanes ;  reins  up  his  horse  on  the  verge  of 
an  abyss ;  falls  through  ice  in  Holland  and  shows 
nothing  but  his  head  above  it ;  cures  himself  of  a 
fever  by  draughts  of  water,  to  the  great  disgust  of 
his  physicians,  and  excapes  a  fire  bursting  out  of  a 
tall  stove. 

Neidelhard  brings  his  real  battles  and  perils. 
From  this  last  he  is  in  danger  of  shipwreck,  of 
assassination,  of  poison,  in  single  combat,  or  in 
battle ;  tumults  of  the  people  beset  him ;  he  is 
imprisoned  as  a  Ghent.  But  finally  JSTeidelhard  is 
beaten  back ;  and  the  hero  is  presented  to  Ehren- 
reich.  Ehrenhold  recounts  his  triumphs,  and 
accuses  the  three  captains.  One  is  hung,  another 
beheaded,  the  third  thrown  headlong  from  a  tower, 
and  a  guardian  angel  then  summons  Theurdank  to 
his  union  with  his  queen.  No  doubt  this  reunion 
was  the  life-dream  of  the  harassed,  busy,  inconsis- 
tent man,  who  flashed  through  the  turmoils  of  the 
early  sixteenth  century. 

The  adventures  of  Maximilian  which  have  been 
adverted  to  in.  the  story  are  all  to  be  found  in  Theur- 


INTRODUCTION.  xi 

dank,  and  in  his  early  life  he  was  probably  the 
brilliant  eager  person  we  have  tried  in  some  degree 
to  describe.  In  his  latter  years  it  is  well  known 
that  he  was  much  struck  by  Luther's  arguments ; 
and,  indeed,  he  had  long  been  conscious  of  need  of 
church  reform,  though  his  plans  took  the  grotesque 
form  of  getting  himself  made  pope,  and  taking  all 
into  his  own  hands. 

Perhaps  it  was  unwise  to  have  ever  so  faintly 
sketched  Ebbo's  career  through  the  ensuing  troubles ; 
but  the  history  of  the  star  and  of  the  spark  in  the 
stubble  seemed  to.  need  completion  ;  and  the  work- 
ing out  of  the  character  of  the  survivor  was  unfin- 
ished till  his  course  had  been  thought  over  from  the 
dawn  of  the  Wittenberg  teaching,  which  must  have 
seemed  no  novelty  to  an  heir  of  the  doctrine  of  Tau- 
ler,  and  of  the  veritably  Catholic  divines  of  old  times. 
The  idea  is  of  the  supposed  course  of  a  thoughtful, 
refined,  conscientious  man,  through  the  earlier  times 
of  the  Eeformation,  glad  of  the  hope  of  cleansing 
the  church,  but  hoping  to  cleanse,  not  to  break 
away  from  her — a  hope  that  Luther  himself  long 
cherished,  and  which  was  not  entirely  frustrated  till 
the  re-assembly  at  Trent  in  the  next  generation. 
Justice  has  never  been  done  to  the  men  who  feared 
to  loose  their  hold  on  the  church  CathoHc  as  the 
one  body  to  which  the  promises  were  made.  Their 
loyalty  has  been  treated  as  blindness,  timidity,  or 
superstition  ;  but  that  there  were  many  such  persons, 
and  those  among  the  very  highest  minds  of  their 


O 


xii  INTRODUCTION.  .     • 

time,  no  one  can  have  any  doubt  after  reading  such 
lives  as  those  of  Friedrich  the  Wise  of  Saxony,  of 
Erasmus,  of  Yittoria  Colonna,  or  of  Cardinal 
Giustiniani. 

April  9, 1866 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Paqk. 
Master  Gottfried's  Workshop 1 

CHAPTER  II. 
The  Eyrie 80 

CHAPTER  III. 
The  Flotsam  and  Jetsam  of  the  Debatable  Ford 53 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Snow-wreaths  When  'Tis  Thaw 67 

CHAPTER  V. 
The  Young  Freiherr 81 

CHAPTER  VI. 
The  Blessed  Friedmund's  Wake , 90 

CHAPTER  VII. 
The  Schneiderlein's  Return Ill 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

Passing  the  Oubliette 125 

CHAPTER  IX. 
The  Eaglets. 1^ 

CHAPTER  X. 
The  Eagle's  Prey '. ...  156 

CHAPTER  XI. 
The  Choice  in  Life 171 


Xiv  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XII. 

Page. 

Back  to  the  Dovecote. 188 

CHAPTER  XIII. 
The  Eaglets  in  the  City 204 

CHAPTER  XIV. 
The  Double  Headed  Eagle 224 

CHAPTER  XV. 

The  Rival  Eyrie 251 

CHAPTER  XVI. 
The  Eagle  and  the  Snake 270 

CHAPTER  XVII. 
Bridging  the  Ford 286 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

Friedmund  in  the  Clouds 302 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

The  Fight  at  the  Ford 311 

CHAPTER  XX. 
The  Wounded  Eagle 327 

CHAPTER  XXI. 
Ritter  Theurdank 343 

CHAPTER  XXII. 
Peace 354 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 
The  Altar  of  Peace 370 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 
Old  Iron  and  New  Steel 384 

CHAPTER  XXV. 
The  Star  and  the  Spark 416 


DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 


CHAPTEK  I. 


The  upper  lattices  of  a  tall,  narrow  window  were 
open,  and  admit  the  view,  of  first  some  richly -tinted 
vine  leaves  and  purpling  grapes,  then,  in  dazzling 
freshness  of  new  white  stone,  the  lacework  fabric  of 
a  half -built  minster  spire,  with  a  mason's  crane  on. 
the  summit,  bending  as  though  craving  for  a  further 
supply  of  materials ;  and  beyond,  peeping  through 
every  crevice  of  the  exquisite  open  fretwork,  was 
the  intensely  blue  sky  of  early  autumn. 

The  lower  longer  panes  of  the  window  were 
closed,  and  the  glass,  divided  into  circles  and 
quarrels,  made  the  scene  less  distinct ;  but  still 
the  huge  stone  tower  was  traceable,  and,  farther  off, 
the  slope  of  a  gently-rising  hill,  clothed  with  vine- 
yards blushing  into  autumn  richness.  Below,  the 
view  was  closed  by  the  gray  wall  of  a  court-yard, 
laden  with  fruit  trees  in  full  bearing,  and  inclosing 
paved  paths  that  radiated  from  a  central  fountain, 
and  left  spaces  between,  where  a  few  summer 
flowers  still  lingered,  and  the  remains  of  others 
showed  what  their  past  glory  had  been. 


2  '  'DOV!E  IJT  fEir  '^EAGLE'S  NEST. 

Tlie '  interior  of  the'  room  was  wainscoted,  the 
floor  paved  with  bright  red  and  cream-colored  tiles, 
and  the  tall  stove  in  one  corner  decorated  with  the 
same.  The  eastern  end  of  the  apartment  was 
adorned  with  an  exquisite  small  group  carved  in 
oak,  representing  the  carpenter's  shop  at  Nazareth, 
with  the  Holy  Child  instructed  by  Joseph  in  the 
use  of  tools,  and  the  mother  sitting  with  her  book, 
"  pondering  these  things  in  her  heart."  All  around 
were  blocks  of  wood  and  carvings  in  varying  states 
of  progress — some  scarcely  shaped  out,  and  others 
in  perfect  completion.  And  the  subjects  were 
equally  various.  Here  was  an  adoring  angel  with 
folded  wings,  clasped  hands,  and  rapt  face ;  here  a 
majestic  head  of  an  apostle  or  prophet ;  here  a 
lovely  virgin  saint,  seeming  to  play  smilingly  with 
the  instrument  of  her  martyrdom ;  here  a  grotesque 
miserere  group,  illustrating  a  fairy  tale,  or  caricatur- 
ing a  popular  fable  ;  here  a  beauteous  festoon  of 
flowers  and  fruit,  emulating  nature  in  all  save  color; 
and  on  the  work-table  itself,  growing  under  the 
master's  hand,  was  a  long  wreath,  entirely  composed 
of  leaves  and  seed-vessels  in  their  quaint  and 
beauteous  forms  —  the  heart-shaped  shepherd's 
purse,  the  mask-like  scull-cap,  and  the  crowned  urn 
of  the  henbane.  The  starred  cap  of  the  poppy  was 
actually  being  shaped  under  the  tool,  copied  from 
a  green  capsule,  surmounted  with  purple  velvety 
rays,  which,  together  with  its  rough  and  wavy  leaf, 
was  held  in  the  hand  of  a  young  maiden  who 
knelt  by  the  table,  watching  the  work  with  eager 
interest. 


DOVE  IN  THE  EAOLE'8  NEST,  3 

She  was  not  a  beautiful  girl — not  one  of  those 
whose  "  bright  eyes  rain  influence,  and  judge  the 
prize."  She  was  too  small,  too  slight,  too  retiring 
for  such  a  position.  If  there  was  something  lily-like 
in  her  drooping  grace,  it  was  not  the  queen-lily 
of  the  garden  that  she  resembled,  but  the  retiring 
lily  of  the  valley — so  purely,  transparently  white 
was  her  skin,  scarcely  tinted  by  a  roseate  blush  on 
the  cheek,  so  tender  and  modest  the  whole  effect  of 
her  slender  figure,  and  the  soft,  downcast,  pensive 
brown  eyes,  utterly  dissimilar  in  hue  from  those  of 
all  her  friends  and  kindred,  except,  perhaps,  the 
bright,  quick  ones  of  her  uncle,  the  master- 
carver.  Otherwise,  his  portly  form,  open  visage, 
and  good-natured  stateliness,  as  well  as  his 
furred  cap,  and  gold  chaia,  were  thoroughly  those  of 
the  German  burgomaster  of  the  fifteenth  century ; 
but  those  glittering  black  eyes  had  not  ceased  to 
betray  their  French,  or  rather  Walloon,  origin, 
though  for  several  generations  back  the  family  had 
been  settled  at  Ulm.  Perhaps,  too,  it  was  "Walloon 
quickness  and  readiness  of  wit  that  had  made  them 
so  soon  as  they  became  affiliated,  so  prominent  in  all 
the  councils  of  the  good  free  city,  and  so  noted  for 
excellence  in  art  and  learning.  Indeed  the  present 
head  of  the  family.  Master  Gottfried  Sorel,  was  so 
much  esteemed  for  his  learning  that  he  had  once  had 
serious  thoughts  of  terming  himself  Magister 
Gothofredus  Oxalicus,  and  might  have  carried  it  out 
but  for  the  very  decided  objections  of  his  wife, 
Dame  Johanna,  and  his  little  niece,  Christina,  to 
being  dubbed  by  any  such  surname. 


4  DOVE  IN  THE  EA QLE *8  NEST. 

Master  Gottfried  had  had  a  scapegrace  younger 
brother  named  Hugh,  who  had  scorned  both  books 
and  tools,  had  been  the  plague  of  the  workshop, 
and,  instead  of  coming  back  from  his  wandering- 
year  of  improvement,  had  joined  a  band  of  roving 
Lanzknechts.  IS'o  more  had  been  heard  of  him  for 
a  dozen  or  fifteen  years,  when  he  suddenly  arrived 
at  the  paternal  mansion  at  Ulm,  half  dead  with  in- 
termittent fever,  and  with  a  young,  broken-hearted, 
and  nearly  expiring  wife,  his  spoil  in  his  Italian 
campaigns.  His  rude  affection  had  utterly  failed  to 
console  her  for  her  desolated  home  and  slaughtered 
kindred,  and  it  had  so  soon  turned  to  brutality  that, 
when  brought  to  comparative  peace  and  rest  in  his 
brother's  home,  there  was  nothing  left  for  the  poor 
Italian  but  to  lie  down  and  die,  commending  her 
babe  in  broken  German  to  Hausfrau  Johanna,  and 
blessing  Master  Gottfried  for  his  flowing  Latin 
assurances  that  the  child  should  be  to  them  even  as 
the  little  maiden  who  was  lying  in  the  God's  acre 
upon  the  hillside. 

And  verily  the  little  Christina  had  been  a  precious 
gift  to  the  bereaved  couple.  Her  father  had  no 
sooner  recovered  than  he  returned  to  his  roving  life, 
and,  except  for  a  report  that  he  had  been  seen 
among  the  retainers  of  one  of  the  robber  barons  of 
the  Swabian  Alps,  nothing  had  been  heard  of  him  ; 
and  Master  Gottfried  only  hoped  to  be  spared  the 
actual  pain  and  scandal  of  knowing  when  his  eyes 
were  blinded  and  his  head  swept  off  at  a  blow,  or 
when  he  was  tumbled  headlong  into  a  moat,  sus- 


DO  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  5 

pended  from  a  tree,  or  broken  on  the  wheel ;  a 
choice  of  fates  that  was  sure  sooner  or  later  to  be- 
fall him.  Meantime,  both  the  burgomeister  and 
burgomeisterinn  did  their  utmost  to  forget  that  the 
gentle  little  girl  was  not  their  own ;  they  set  all 
their  hopes  and  joys  on  her,  and,  making  her  supply 
the  place  at  once  of  son  and  daughter,  they  bred  her 
up  in  all  the  refinements  and  accomplishments  in 
which  the  free  citizens  of  Germany  took  the  lead  in 
the  middle  and  latter  part  of  the  fifteenth  century. 
To  aid  her  aunt  in  all  housewifely  arts,  to  prepare 
dainty  food  and  varied  liquors,  and  to  spin,  weave, 
and  broider,  was  only  a  part  of  Christina's  training ; 
her  uncle  likewise  set  great  store  by  her  sweet  Italian 
voice,  and  caused  her  to  be  carefully  taught  to  sing 
and  play  on  the  lute,  and  he  likewise  delighted  in 
hearing  her  read  aloud  to  him  from  the  hereditary 
store  of  MSS.  and  from  the  dark  volumes  that 
began  to  proceed  from  the  press.  I^ay,  Master 
Gottfried  had  made  experiments  in  printing  and 
wood-engraving  on  his  own  account,  and  had  found 
no  head  so  intelligent,  no  hand  so  desirous  to  aid 
him,  as  his  Httle  Christina's,  who,  in  all  that  needed 
taste  and  skill  rather  than  strength,  was  worth  all 
his  'prentices  and  journeymen  together.  Some  fine 
bold  wood  cuts  had  been  produced  by  their  joint 
efforts  ;  but  these  less  important  occupations  had  of 
late  been  set  aside  by  the  engrossing  interest  of  the 
interior  fittings  of  the  great  "  Dome  Kirk,"  which 
for  nearly  a  centur}^  had  been  rising  by  the  united 
exertions  of  the  burghers,  without  any  assistance 


6  DO  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

from  without.  The  foundation  had  been  laid  in 
13Y7 ;  and  at  length,  in  the  year  of  grace  14Y2,  the 
crown  of  the  apse  had  been  closed  in,  and  matters 
were  so  forward  that  Master  Gottfried's  stall-work 
was  already  in  requisition  for  the  choir. 

"  Three  cubits  more,"  he  reckoned.  "  Child,  hast 
thou  found  me  fruits  enough  for  the  completing  of 
this  border  ?  " 

"  O  yes,  mine  uncle.  I  have  the  wild  rosehip,  and 
the  flat  shield  of  the  moon  wort,  and  a  pea-pod,  and 
more  whose  names  I  know  not.  But  should  they 
all  be  seed  and  fruit  ? " 

"  Yea,  truly,  my  Stina,  for  this  wreath  shall  speak 
of  the  goodly  fruits  of  a  completed  life." 

"  Even  as  that  which  you  carved  in  spring  told  of 
the  blossom  and  fair  promise  of  youth,"  returned  the 
maiden.  "  Methinks  the  one  is  the  most  beautiful, 
as  it  ought  to  be ; "  then,  after  a  little  pause,  and 
some  reckoning,  "  I  have  scarce  seed-pods  enough  in 
store,  uncle;  might  we  not  seek  some  rarer  shapes 
in  the  herb-garden  of  Master  Gerhard,  the  physi- 
cian ?  He,  too,  might  tell  me  the  names  of  some  of 
these." 

"  True,  child ;  or  we  might  ride  into  the  country 
beyond  the  walls  and  seek  them.  "What,  little  one, 
wouldst  thou  not?" 

"  So  we  go  not  far,"  faltered  Christina,  coloring. 

"  Ha,  thou  hast  not  forgotten  the  fright  thy  com- 
panions had  from  the  Schlangenwald  reitern  when 
gathering  Maydew  ?  Fear  not,  little  coward ;  if  we 
go  beyond  the  suburbs  we  will  take  Hans  and  Peter 


t>0  VB  IN  TEE  EAGLE' B  NB8T.  7 

with,  their  halberds.  But  I  believe  thy  silly  little 
heart  can  scarce  be  free  for  enjoyment  if  it  can  fancy 
a  reiter  within  a  dozen  leagues  of  thee." 

"  At  your  side  I  would  not  fear.  That  is,  I  would 
not  vex  thee  by  my  folly,  and  I  might  forget  it,"  re- 
plied Christina,  looking  down. 

"  My  gentle  child !  "  the  old  man  said  approvingly. 
"  Moreover,  if  our  good  kaiser  has  his  way,  we  shall 
soon  be  free  of  the  reitern  of  Schlangenwald,  and 
Adlerstein,  and  all  the  rest  of  the  mouse-trap 
barons.  He  is  hoping  to  form  a  league  of  us  free 
imperial  cities  with  all  the  more  reasonable  and  hon- 
est nobles,  to  preserve  the  peace  of  the  country. 
Even  now  a  letter  from  him  was  read  in  the  town 
hall  to  that  effect ;  and,  when  all  are  united  against 
them,  my  lords-mousers  must  needs  become  pledged 
to  the  league  or  go  down  before  it." 

"  Ah !  that  will  be  weU,"  cried  Christina.  "  Then 
will  our  wagons  be  no  longer  set  upon  at  the  De- 
batable Ford  by  Schlangenwald  or  Adlerstein ;  and 
our  wares  will  come  safely,  and  there  will  be  wealth 
enough  to  raise  our  spire  !  O  uncle,  what  a  day  of 
joy  will  that  be  when  Our  Lady's  great  statute  will 
be  set  on  the  summit ! " 

"  A  day  that  I  shall  scarce  see,  and  it  will  be  well 
if  thou  dost,"  returned  her  uncle,  "  unless  the  hearts 
of  the  burghers  of  Ulm  return  to  the  liberality  of 
their  fathers,  who  devised  that  spire !  But  what 
trampling  do  I  hear  ? " 

There  was  indeed  a  sudden  confusion  in  the  house, 
and,  before  the  uncle  and  niece  could  rise,  the  door 


8  DO  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE 'S  NEST. 

was  opened  by  a  prosperous  apple-faced  dame,  ex- 
claiming in  a  hasty  whisper,  "  housefather,  O  house- 
father, there  are  a  troop  of  reitern  at  the  door, 
dismounting  already ; "  and,  as  the  master  came  for- 
ward, brushing  from  his  furred  vest  the  shavings 
and  dust  of  his  work,  she  added  in  a  more  furtive, 
startled  accent,  "  and,  if  I  mistake  not,  one  is  thy 
brother ! " 

"  He  is  welcome,"  replied  Master  Gottfried,  in  his 
cheery  fearless  voice  ;  "  he  brought  us  a  choice  gift 
last  time  he  came ;  and  it  may  be  he  is  ready  to  seek 
peace  among  us  after  his  wanderings.  Come  hither, 
Christina,  my  little  one ;  it  is  well  to  be  abashed, 
but  thou  art  not  a  child  who  need  fear  to  meet  a 
father." 

Christina's  extreme  timidity,  however,  made  her 
pale  and  crimson  by  turns,  perhaps  by  the  infection 
of  anxiety  from  her  aunt,  who  could  not  conceal  a 
certain  dissatisfaction  and  alarm,  as  the  maiden,  led 
on  either  side  by  her  adopted  parents,  thus  advanced 
from  the  little  studio  into  a  handsomely-carved 
wooden  gallery,  projecting  into  a  great  wainscoted 
room,  with  a  broad  carved  stair  leading  down  into 
it.  Down  this  stair  the  three  proceeded,  and  reached 
the  stone  hall  that  lay  beyond  it,  just  as  there 
entered  from  the  trellised  porch  that  covered  the 
steps  into  the  street,  a  thin  wiry  man,  in  a  worn  and 
greasy  buff  suit,  guarded  on  the  breast  and  arms 
with  rusty  steel,  and  a  battered  helmet  with  the 
vizor  up,  disclosing  a  weather-beaten  bronzed  face, 
with  somewhat  wild  dark  eyes  and  a  huge  grizzled 


DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST,  9 

mustache  forming  a  straight  line  over  his  lips.  Al- 
together he  was  a  complete  model  of  the  lawless 
reiter  or  lanzknecht,  the  terror  of  Swabia,  and  the 
bugbear  of  Christina's  imagination.  The  poor 
child's  heart  died  within  her  as  she  perceived  the 
mutual  recognition  between  her  uncle  and  the  new- 
comer; and,  while  Master  Gottfried  held  out  his 
hands  with  a  cordial  greeting  of  "  Welcome,  home, 
brother  Hugh,"  she  trembled  from  head  to  foot,  as 
she  sank  on  her  knees,  and  murmured,  "  Your  bless- 
ing, honored  father." 

"  Ha  ?  What,  this  is  my  girl  ?  What  says  she  ? 
My  blessing,  eh  ?  There,  then,  thou  hast  it,  child, 
such  as  I  have  to  give,  though  they'll  tell  thee  at 
Adlerstein  that  I  am  more  wont  to  give  the  other 
sort  of  blessing !  Now,  give  me  a  kiss,  girl,  and  let 
me  see  thee !  How  now  ! "  as  he  folded  her  in  his 
rough  arms ;  "  thou  art  a  mere  feather,  as  slight  as 
our  sick  jungfrau  herself."  And  then,  regarding 
her  as  she  stood  drooping :  "  Thou  art  not  half  the 
woman  thy  mother  was — she  was  stately  and 
straight  as  a  column,  and  tall  withal." 

"  True ! "  replied  Hausfrau  Johanna,  in  a  marked 
tone ;  "  but  both  she  and  her  poor  babe  had  been  so 
harassed  and  wasted  with  long  journeys  and  hard- 
ships, that  with  all  our  care  of  our  Christina,  she 
has  never  been  strong  or  well-grown.  The  marvel 
is  that  she  lived  at  all." 

"  Our  Christina  is  not  beautiful,  we  know,"  added 
her  uncle,  reassuringly  taking  her  hand ;  "  but  she 
is  a  good  and  meek  maiden." 


10  DOVB  W  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

"  Well,  well,"  returned  the  lanzknecht,  "  she  will 
answer  the  purpose  w^ell  enough,  or  better  than  if 
she  were  fair  enough  to  set  all  our  fellows  together 
by  the  ears  for  her.  Camilla,  I  say — no,  what's  her 
name,  Christina  ? — put  up  thy  gear  and  be  ready  to 
start  with  me  to-morrow  morning  for  Adlerstein." 

"  For  Adlerstein  ? "  re-echoed  the  housemother,  in 
a  tone  of  horrified  dismay ;  and  Christina  would 
have  dropped  on  the  floor  but  for  her  uncle's  sus- 
taining hand,  and  the  cheering  glance  with  which 
he  met  her  imploring  look. 

"  Let  us  come  up  to  the  gallery  and  understand 
what  you  desire,  brother,"  said  Master  Gottfried, 
gravely.  "  Fill  the  cup  of  greeting,  Hans.  Your 
followers  shall  be  entertained  in  the  hall,"  he 
added. 

"  Ay,  ay,"  quoth  Hugh,  "  I  will  show  you  reason 
over  a  goblet  of  the  old  Rosenburg.  Is  it  all  gone 
yet,  brother  Goetz?  No?  I  reckon  there  would 
not  be  the  scouring  of  a  glass  left  of  it  in  a  week  if 
it  were  at  Adlerstein." 

So  saying,  the  trooper  crossed  the  lower  room, 
which  contained  a  huge  tiled  baking  oven,  various 
brilliantly-burnished  cooking  utensils,  and  a  great 
carved  cupboard  like  a  wooden  bedstead,  and,  pass- 
ing the  door  of  the  bath-room,  clanked  up  the  oaken 
stairs  to  the  gallery,  the  reception-room  of  the 
house.  It  had  tapestry  hangings  to  the  wall,  and 
cushions  both  to  the  carved  chairs  and  deep  win- 
dows, which  looked  out  into  the  street,  the  whole 
story  projecting  into  close  proximity  with  the  cor- 


DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NE8T,  11 

responding  apartment  of  the  Syndic  Moritz,  the 
goldsmith  on  the  opposite  side.  An  oaken  table 
stood  in  the  center,  and  the  gallery  was  adorned 
with  a  dresser,  displaying  not  only  bright  pewter, 
but  goblets  and  drinking  cups  of  beautifully-shaped 
and  colored  glass,  and  saltcellars,  tankards,  etc.,  of 
gold  and  silver. 

"  Just  as  it  was  in  the  old  man's  time,"  said  the 
soldier,  throwing  himself  into  the  housefather's 
chair.  "A  handful  of  lanzknechts  would  make 
short  work  with  your  pots  and  pans,  good  sister 
Johanna." 

"  Heaven  forbid ! "  said  poor  Johanna  under  her 
breath. 

"Much  good  they  do  you,  up  in  a  row  there, 
making  you  a  slave  to  furbishing  them.  There's 
more  sense  in  a  chair  like  this — that  does  rest  a 
man's  bones.  Here,  Camilla,  girl,  unlace  my  hel- 
met. What !  know'st  not  how  ?  What  is  a  woman 
made  for  but  to  let  a  soldier  free  of  his  trappings  ? 
Thou  hast  done  it !  There !  N^ow  my  boots," 
stretching  out  his  legs. 

"  Hans  shall  draw  off  your  boots,  fair  brother," 
began  the  dame;  but  poor  Christina,  the  more 
anxious  to  propitiate  him  in  little  things,  because  of 
the  horror  and  dread  with  which  his  main  purpose 
inspired  her,  was  already  on  her  knees,  pulling  with 
her  small  quivering  hands  at  the  long,  steel-guarded 
boot — a  task  to  which  she  would  have  been  utterly 
inadequate,  but  for  some  lazy  assistance  from  her 
father's  other  foot.     She  further  brought  a  pair  of 


12  0  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

her  uncle's  furred  slippers,  while  Keiter  Hugh  pro- 
ceeded to  dangle  one  of  the  boots  in  the  air,  expa- 
tiating on  its  frail  condition,  and  expressing  his 
intention  of  getting  a  ncAV  pair  from  Master 
Matthias,  the  sutor,  ere  he  should  leave  Ulm  on  the 
morrow.  Then,  again,  came  the  dreaded  subject: 
his  daughter  must  go  with  him. 

"What  would  you  with  Christina,  brother?" 
gravely  asked  Master  Gottfried,  seating  himself  on 
the  opposite  side  of  the  stove,  while  out  of  sight  the 
frightened  girl  herself  knelt  on  the  floor,  her  head 
on  her  aunt's  knees,  trying  to  derive  comfort  from 
Dame  Johanna's  clasping  hands,  and  vehement 
murmurs  that  they  would  not  let  their  child  be 
taken  from  them.  Alas!  these  assurances  were 
little  in  accordance  with  Hugh's  rough  reply,  "  And 
what  is  it  to  you  what  I  do  with  mine  own  ? " 

"  Only  this,  that  having  bred  her  up  as  a  child 
and  intended  heiress,  I  might  have  some  voice." 

"  Oh !  in  choosing  her  mate !  Some  mincing 
artificer,  I  trow,  fiddling  away  with  wood  and  wire 
to  make  gauds  for  the  fair-day !  Hast  got  him 
here  ?  If  I  like  him,  and  she  likes  him,  I'll  bring 
her  back  when  her  work  is  done." 

"  There  is  no  such  person  as  yet  in  the  case,"  said 
Gottfried.  "  Christina  is  not  yet  seventeen,  and  I 
would  take  my  time  to  find  an  honest,  pious 
burgher,  who  wiU  value  this  precious  jewel  of 
mine." 

"  And  let  her  polish  his  flagons  to  the  end  of  her 
days,"  laughed  Hugh  grimly,  but  manifestly  some- 


DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  If  ESI  13 

what  influenced  by  the  notion  of  his  brother's 
wealth.  "  What,  hast  no  child  of  thine  own  ?  "  he 
added. 

"  ISTone,  save  in  paradise,"  answered  Gottfried, 
crossing  himself.  "And  thus,  if  Christina  should 
remain  with  me,  and  be  such  as  I  would  have  her, 
then,  brother,  my  wealth,  after  myself  and  my  good 
housewife,  shall  be  hers,  with  due  provision  for  thee, 
if  thou  shouldst  weary  of  thy  wild  life.  Other- 
wise," he  added,  looking  down,  and  speaking  in  an 
undertone,  "  my  poor  savings  should  go  to  the 
completion  of  the  Dome  Kirk." 

"And  who  told  thee,  Goetz,  that  I  would  do 
ought  with  the  girl  that  should  hinder  her  from 
being  the  very  same  fat,  sauerkraut-cooking,  pewter- 
scrubbing  housewife  of  thy  mind's  eye  ?  " 

"I  have  heard  nothing  of  thy  designs  as  yet. 
Brother  Hugh,  save  that  thou  wouldst  take  her  to 
Adlerstein,  which  men  greatly  belie  if  it  be  not  a 
nest  of  robbers." 

"  Aha !  thou  hast  heard  of  Adlerstein !  We  have 
made  the  backs  of  your  jolly  merchants  tingle  as 
well  as  they  could  through  their  well  lined  doublets! 
Ulm  knows  of  Adlerstein,  and  the  Debatable 
Ford!" 

"It  knows  little  to  its  credit,"  said  Gottfried, 
gravely;  "and  it  knows  also  that  the  emperor  is 
about  to  make  a  combination  against  all  the 
Swabian  robber-holds,  and  that  such  as  join  not  in 
it  will  fare  the  worse." 

"  Let  Kaiser  Fritz  catch  his  bear  ere  he  sells  its 


14  DO  VE  IN  TEE  EAGLE 'S  NEST, 

hide!  He  has  never  tried  to  mount  the  Eagle's 
Ladder!  Why,  man,  Adlerstein  might  be  held 
against  five  hundred  men  by  Sister  Johanna  with 
her  rock  and  spindle !  'Tis  a  free  barony.  Master 
Gottfried,  I  tell  thee — has  never  sworn  allegiance  to 
kaiser  or  Duke  of  Swabia  either !  IVeiherr  Eberhard 
is  as  much  a  king  on  his  own  rock  as  Kaiser  Fritz  ever 
was  of  the  Romans,  and  more  too,  for  I  never  could 
find  out  that  they  thought  much  of  our  king  at 
Rome ;  and,  as  to  gainsaying  our  old  frieherr,  one 
might  as  well  leap  over  the  abyss  at  once." 

"  Yes,  those  old  free  barons  are  pitiless  tyrants," 
said  Gottfried,  "  and  I  scarce  think  I  can  understand 
thee  aright  when  I  hear  thee  say  thou  wouldst  carry 
thy  daughter  to  such  an  abode." 

"  It  is  the  freiherr's  command,"  returned  Hugh. 
"Look  you,  they  have  had  wondrous  ill-luck  with 
their  children ;  the  Freiherrinn  Kunigunde  has  had 
a  dozen  at  least,  and  only  two  are  alive,  my  young 
freiherr  and  my  young  Lady  Erraentrude ;  and  no 
wonder,  you  would  say,  if  you  could  see  the 
gracious  freiherrinn,  for  surely  Dame  Holda  made 
a  blunder  when  she  fished  her  out  of  the  fountain 
woman  instead  of  man.  She  is  Adlerstein  herself 
by  birth,  married  her  cousin,  and  is  prouder  and 
more  dour  than  our  old  frieherr  himself — fitter  far 
to  handle  shield  than  swaddled  babe.  And  now  our 
jungfrau  has  fallen  into  a  pining  waste,  that  'tis  a 
pity  to  see  how  her  cheeks  have  fallen  away,  and 
how  she  mopes  and  fades.  JSTow,  the  old  freiherr 
and  her  brother,  they  both  dote  on  her,  and  would 


BO  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST-  15 

do  anything  for  her.  They  thought  she  was 
bewitched,  so  we  took  old  Mother  Ilsebill  and 
tried  her  with  the  ordeal  of  water;  but,  look 
you,  she  sank  as  innocent  as  a  puppy  dog, 
and  Ursel  was  at  fault  to  fix  on  any  one  else. 
Then  one  day,  when  I  looked  into  the  chamber, 
I  saw  the  poor  maiden  sitting,  with  her  head  hang- 
ing down,  as  if  'twas  too  heavy  for  her,  on  a  high- 
backed  chair,  no  rest  for  her  feet,  and  the  wind 
blowing  keen  all  round  her,  and  nothing  to  taste 
but  scorched  beef,  or  black  bread  and  sour  wine,  and 
her  mother  rating  her  for  foolish  fancies  that  gave 
trouble.  And,  when  my  young  freiherr  was  be- 
moaning himself  that  we  could  not  hear  of  a  Jew 
physician  passing  our  way  to  catch  and  bring  up  to 
cure  her,  I  said  to  him  at  last  that  no  doctor  could 
do  for  her  what  gentle  tendance  and  nursing  would, 
for  what  the  poor  maiden  needed  was^  to  be  cosseted 
and  laid  down  softly,  and  fed  with  broths  and  possets, 
and  all  that  women  know  how  to  do  with  one 
another.  A  proper  scowl  and  hard  words  I  got 
from  my  gracious  lady,  for  wanting  to  put  burgher 
softness  into  an  Adlerstein  ;  but  my  old  lord  and 
his  son  opened  on  the  scent  at  once.  '  Thou  hast  a 
daughter  V  quoth  the  freiherr.  '  So  please  your 
gracious  lordship,'  quoth  I ;  '  that  is,  if  she  still 
lives,  for  I  left  her  a  puny  infant.'  '  Well,'  said  my 
lord,  *  if  thou  wilt  bring  her  here,  and  her  care 
restores  my  daughter  to  health  and  strength,  then 
will  I  make  thee  my  body  squire,  with  a  right  to  a 
fourth  part  of  all  the  spoil,  and  feed  for  two  horses 


16  DO  VE  IN  THE  EA  OL  E  '8  NEST. 

in  my  stable.'  And  young  Freiherr  Eberhard  gave 
his  word  upon  it." 

Gottfried  suggested  that  a  sick  nurse  was  the 
person  required  rather  than  a  child  like  Christina ; 
but,  as  Hugh  truly  observed,  no  nurse  would  volun- 
tarily go  to  Adlerstein,  and  it  was  no  use  to  wait 
for  the  hopes  of  capturing  one  by  raid  or  foray. 
His  daughter  was  at  his  own  disposal,  and  her 
services  would  be  repaid  by  personal  advantages  to 
himself  which  he  was  not  disposed  to  forego  ;  in 
effect  these  were  the  only  means  that  the  baron  had 
of  requiting  any  attendance  upon  his  daughter. 

The  citizens  of  old  Germany  had  the  strongest  and 
most  stringent  ideas  of  parental  authority,  and  re- 
garded daughters  as  absolute  chattels  of  their 
father ;  and  Master  Gottfried  Sorel,  though  he  alone 
had  done  the  part  of  a  parent  to  his  niece,  felt 
entirely  unable  to  withstand  the  nearer  claim,  ex- 
cept by  representations ;  and  these  fell  utterly  dis- 
regarded, as  in  truth  every  counsel  had  hitherto 
done,  upon  the  ears  of  Reiter  Hugh,  ever  since  he 
had  emerged  from  his  swaddling  clothes.  The 
plentiful  supper,  full  cup  of  wine,  the  confections, 
the  soft  chair,  together  perhaps  with  his  brother's 
grave  speech,  soon,  however,  had  the  effect  of  send- 
ing him  into  a  doze,  whence  he  started  to  accept 
civilly  the  proposal  of  being  installed  in  the  stran- 
ger's room,  where  he  was  speedily  snoring  between 
two  feather  beds. 

Then  there  could  be  freedom  of  speech  in  the 
gallery,  where  the  uncle  and  aunt  held  anxious 


DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NE8T.  17 

counsel  over  the  poor  little  dark-tressed  head  that 
still  lay  upon  good  Johanna's  knees.  The  dame  was 
indignant  and  resolute  :  "  Take  the  child  back  with 
him  into  a  very  nest  of  robbers ! — her  OAvn  innocent 
dove  whom  they  had  shielded  from  all  evil  like  a 
very  nun  in  a  cloister !  She  should  as  soon  think 
of  yielding  her  up  to  be  borne  off  by  the  great 
Satan  himself  with  his  horns  and  hoofs." 

"  Hugh  is  her  father,  housewife,"  said  the  master- 
carver. 

"  The  right  of  parents  is  with  those  that  have 
done  the  duty  of  parents,"  returned  Johanna. 
"  What  said  the  kid  in  the  fable  to  the  goat  that- 
claimed  her  from  the  sheep  that  bred  her  up  ?  I 
am  ashamed  of  you,  housefather,  for  not  better  lov- 
ing your  own  niece." 

"  Heaven  knows  how  I  love  her,"  said  Gottfried, 
as  the  sweet  face  was  raised  up  to  him  with  a  look 
acquitting  of  the  charge,  and  he  bent  to  smooth 
back  the  silken  hair,  and  kiss  the  ivory  brow  ;  "  but 
Heaven  also  knows  that  I  see  no  means  of  withhold- 
ing her  from  one  whose  claim  is  closer  than  my 
own — none  save  one ;  and  to  that  even  thou,  house- 
mother, wouldst  not  have  me  resort." 

"  What  is  it  ? "  asked  the  dame,  sharply,  yet  with 
some  fear. 

"  To  denounce  him  to  the  burgomasters  as  one  of 
the  Adlerstein  retainers  who  robbed  Philipp  der 
Schmidt,  and  have  him  fast  laid  by  the  heels." 

Christina  shuddered,  and  Dame  Johanna  herself 
recoiled ;  but  presently  exclaimed,  "  Nay,  you  could 


18  DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

not  do  that,  good  man,  but  wherefore  not  threaten 
him  therewith?  Stand  at  his  bedside  in  early  dawn, 
and  tell  him  that,  if  he  be  not  off  ere  daylight  with 
both  his  cut-throats,  the  halberdiers  will  be  upon 
him." 

"  Threaten  what  I  neither  could  nor  would  per- 
form, mother  ?     That  were  a  shrewish  resource." 

"  Yet  would  it  save  the  child,"  muttered  Johanna. 
But,  in  the  meantime,  Christina  was  rising  from  the 
floor,  and  stood  before  them  with  loose  hair,  tearful 
eyes,  and  wet,  flushed  cheeks.  "  It  must  be  thus,"  she 
said  in  a  low,  but  not  unsteady  voice.  "  I  can  bear  it 
better  since  I  have  heard  of  the  poor  young  lady, 
sick,  and  with  none  to  care  for  her.  I  will  go  with 
my  father  ;  it  is  my  duty.  I  will  do  my  best ;  but 
oh !  uncle,  so  work  with  him  that  he  may  bring  me 
back  again." 

"  This  from  thee,  Stina !  "  exclaimed  her  aunt ; 
"  from  thee  who  art  sick  for  fear  of  a  lanzknecht !  " 

"  The  saints  will  be  with  me,  and  you  vrill  pray 
for  me,"  said  Christina,  still  trembling. 

"  I  tell  thee,  child,  thou  knowst  not  what  these 
vile  dens  are.  Heaven  forfend  thou  shouldst ! " 
exclaimed  her  aunt.  "  Go  only  to  Father  Balthazar, 
housefather,  and  see  if  he  doth  not  call  it  a  sending 
of  a  lamb  among  wolves." 

"  Mind'st  thou  the  carving  I  did  for  Father  Bal- 
thazar's own  oratory  ? "  replied  Master  Gottfried. 

"  I  talk  not  of  carving.  I  talk  of  our  child ! " 
said  the  dame  petulantly. 

"  Ut  agnvs  inter  lujpos^''  softly  said  Gottfried, 


DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  19 

looking  tenderly,  though  sadly,  at  his  neice,  who 
not  only  understood  the  quotation,  but  well  remem- 
bered the  carving  of  the  cross-marked  lamb  going 
forth  from  its  fold  among  the  howling  wolves. 

"  Alas !  I  am  not  an  apostle,"  said  she. 

"  ]^ay,  but,  in  the  path  of  duty,  'tis  the  same 
hand  that  sends  thee  forth,"  answered  her  uncle, 
"and  the  same  will  guard  thee." 

"  Duty,  indeed !  "  exclaimd  Johanna.  "  As  if  any 
duty  could  lead  that  silly  helpless  child  among  that 
herd  of  evil  men,  and  women  yet  worse,  with  a 
good-for-nothing  father  who  would  sell  her  for  a 
good  horse  to  the  first  dissolute  junker  who  fell  in 
his  way." 

"  I  will  take  care  that  he  knows  that  it  is  worth 
his  while  to  restore  her  safe  to  us.  Nor  do  I  think 
so  ill  of  Hugh  as  thou  dost,  mother.  And,  for  the 
rest,  Heaven  and  the  saints  and  her  own  discretion 
must  be  her  guard  till  she  shall  return  to  us." 

"  How  can  Heaven  be  expected  to  protect  her 
when  you  are  flying  in  its  face  by  not  taking  coun- 
sel with  Father  Balthazar  ? " 

"  That  shalt  thou  do,"  replied  Gottfried,  readily, 
secure  that  Father  Balthazar  would  see  the  matter 
in  the  same  light  as  himself,  and  tranquilize  the 
good  woman.  It  was  not  yet  so  late  but  that  a 
servant  could  be  despatched  with  a  request  that 
Father  Balthazar,  who  lived  not  many  houses  off  in 
the  same  street,  would  favor  the  Burgomeisterinn 
Sorel  b}^  coming  to  speak  with  her.  In  a  few  minutes 
he  appeared — an  aged  man,  with  a  sensible  face, 


20  I>0  VE  IN  THE  EA  OLE  '8  NEST, 

of  the  fresh,  pure  bloom  preserved  by  a  temperate 
life.  He  was  a  secular-parish  priest,  and,  as  well  as 
his  friend  Master  Gottfried,  held  greatly  by  the 
views  left  by  the  famous  Strasburg  preacher.  Mas- 
ter John  Tauler.  After  the  good  housemother  had, 
in  strong  terms,  laid  the  case  before  him,  she  ex- 
pected a  trenchant  decision  on  her  own  side,  but,  to 
her  surprise  and  disappointment,  he  declared  that 
Master  Gottfried  was  right,  and  that,  unless  Hugh 
Sorel  demanded  anything  absolutely  sinful  of  his 
daughter,  it  was  needful  that  she  should  submit. 
He  repeated,  in  stronger  terms,  the  assurance  that 
she  would  be  protected  in  the  endeavor  to  do  right, 
and  the  divine  promises  which  he  quoted  from  the 
Latin  scriptures  gave  some  comfort  to  the  niece, 
who  understood  them,  while  they  impressed  the 
aunt,  who  did  not.  There  was  always  the  hope 
that,  whether  the  young  lady  died  or  recovered,  the 
conclusion  of  her  illness  would  be  the  term  of 
Christina's  stay  at  Adlerstein,  and  with  this  trust 
Johanna  must  content  herself.  The  priest  took 
leave,  after  appointing  with  Christina  to  meet  her 
in  the  confessional  early  in  the  morning  before 
mass ;  and  half  the  night  was  spent  by  the  aunt 
and  niece  in  preparing  Christina's  wardrobe  for  her 
sudden  journey. 

Many  a  tear  was  shed  over  the  tokens  of  the  lit- 
tle services  she  was  wont  to  render,  her  half-done 
works,  and  pleasant  studies  so  suddenly  broken  off,, 
and  all  the  time  Hausfrau  Johanna  was  running 
on  with  a  lecture  on  the  diligent  preservation  of  her 


DO  VB  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  21 

maiden  discretion,  with  plentiful  warnings  against 
swaggering  men-at-arms,  drunken  lanzknechts,  and, 
above  all,  against  young  barons,  who  most  assuredly 
could  mean  no  good  by  any  burgher  maiden.  The 
good  annt  blessed  the  saints  that  her  Stina  was 
likely  only  to  be  lovely  in  affectionate  home  eyes ; 
but,  for  that  matter,  idle  men,  shut  up  in  a  castle, 
with  nothing  but  mischief  to  think  of,  would  be 
dangerous  to  Little  Three  Eyes  herself,  and  Chris- 
tina had  best  never  stir  a  yard  from  her  lady's  chair, 
when  forced  to  meet  them.  All  this  was  inter- 
spersed with  motherly  advice  how  to  treat  the  sick 
lady,  and  recipes  for  cordials  and  possets;  for 
Johanna  began  to  regard  the  case  as  a  sort  of 
second-hand  one  of  her  own.  l^ay,  she  even  turned 
it  over  in  her  mind  whether  she  should  not  offer 
herself  as  the  Lady  Ermentrude's  sick-nurse,  as  be- 
ing a  less  dangerous  commodity  than  her  little 
niece  :  but  fears  for  the  well-being  of  the  master- 
carver,  and  his  Wirthschaft,  and  still  more  the 
notion  of  gossip  Gertrude  Grundt  hearing  that  she 
had  ridden  off  with  a  wild  lanzknecht,  made  her  at 
once  reject  the  plan,  without  even  mentioning  it  to 
her  husband  or  her  neice. 

By  the  time  Hugh  Sorel  rolled  out  from  between 
his  feather  beds,  and  was  about  to  don  his  greasy 
buff,  a  handsome  new  suit,  finished  point  device, 
and  a  pair  of  huge  boots  to  correspond,  had  been 
laid  by  his  bedside. 

"  Ho,  ho !  Master  Goetz,"  said  he,  as  he  stumbled 
into  the  Stube,  "  1  see  thy  game.     Thou  wouldst 


22  I>0  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE' 8  NEST, 

make  it  worth  my  while  to  visit  the  father-house  at 
Ulm?" 

"  It  shall  be  worth  thy  while,  indeed,  if  thou  bring- 
est  me  back  my  white  dove,"  was  Gottfried's  an- 
swer. 

"  And  how  if  I  bring  her  back  with  a  strapping 
reiter  son-in-law?"  laughed  Hugh.  "What  wel- 
come should  the  fellow  receive  ? " 

"  That  would  depend  on  what  he  might  be,"  re- 
plied Gottfried  ;  and  Hugh,  his  love  of  tormenting 
a  little  allayed  by  satisfaction  in  his  buff  suit,  and 
by  an  eye  to  a  heavy  purse  that  lay  by  his  brother's 
hand  on  the  table,  added,  "  Little  fear  of  that.  Our 
fellows  would  look  for  lustier  brides  than  yon  little 
pale  face.  'Tis  whiter  than  ever  this  morning, — 
but  no  tears.     That  is  my  brave  girl." 

"  Yes,  father,  I  am  ready  to  do  your  bidding,"  re- 
plied Christina,  meekly. 

"  That  is  well,  child.  Mark  me,  no  tears.  Thy 
mother  wept  day  and  night,  and,  when  she  had 
wept  out  her  tears,  she  was  sullen,  when  I  would 
have  been  friendly  toward  her.  It  was  the  worse 
for  her.  But,  so  long  as  thou  art  good  daughter  to 
me,  thou  shalt  find  me  good  father  to  thee ;  "  and  for 
a  moment  there  was  a  kindliness  in  her  eye  which 
made  it  sufficiently  like  that  of  his  brother  to  give 
some  consolation  to  the  shrinking  heart  that  he  was 
rending  from  all  it  loved ;  and  she  steadied  her  voice 
for  another  gentle  profession  of  obedience,  for  which 
she  felt  strengthened  by  the  morning's  orisons. 

"  Well  said,  child.    Now  canst  sit  on  old  Nibe- 


DO  YE  nr  THE  EAGLE  '8  NEST.  23 

lung's  croup  ?  His  back-bone  is  somewhat  sharper 
than  if  he  had  battened  in  a  citizen's  stall ;  but,  if 
thine  aunt  can  find  thee  some  sort  of  pillion,  I'll 
promise  thee  the  best  ride  thou  hast  had  since  we 
came  from  Innspruck,  ere  thou  canst  remember." 

"  Christina  has  her  own  mule,"  replied  her  uncle, 
"  without  troubling  Kibelung  to  carry  double." 

"  Ho !  her  own  !  An  overfed  burgomaster  sort 
of  a  beast,  that  will  turn  restive  at  the  first  sight  of 
the  Eagle's  Ladder !  However,  he  may  carry  her 
so  far,  and,  if  we  cannot  get  him  up  the  moun- 
tain, I  shall  know  what  to  do  with  him,"  he  muttered 
to  himself. 

But  Hugh,  like  many  a  gentleman  after  him, 
was  recusant  at  the  sight  of  his  daughter's  luggage ; 
and  yet  it  only  loaded  one  sumpter  mule,  besides 
forming  a  few  bundles  which  could  be  easily  be- 
stowed upon  the  saddles  of  his  two  knappen,  while 
her  lute  hung  by  a  silken  string  on  her  arm.  Both 
she  and  her  aunt  thought  she  had  been  extremely 
moderate ;  but  his  cry  was,  what  could  she  want 
with  so  much  ?  Her  mother  had  never  been  allowed 
more  than  would  go  into  a  pair  of  saddle-bags ;  and 
his  own  jungfaru — she  had  never  seen  so  much  gear 
together  in  her  life ;  he  would  be  laughed  to  scorn 
for  his  presumption  in  bringing  such  a  fine  lady  into 
the  castle ;  it  would  be  well  if  Frieherr  Eberhard's 
bride  brought  half  as  much. 

Still  he  had  a  certain  pride  in  it — he  was,  after 
all,  by  birth  and  breeding  a  burgher — and  there  had 
been  evidently  a  softening  and  civilizing  influence 


24  I>0  VE  m  THE  EAGLE 'S  NEST, 

in  the  night  spent  beneath  his  paternal  roof,  amid 
old  habits,  and  perhaps  likewise  in  the  submission 
he  had  met  with  from  his  daughter.  The  attend- 
ants, too,  who  had  been  pleased  with  their  quarters, 
readily  undertook  to  carry  their  share  of  the  burthen, 
and,  though  he  growled  and  muttered  a  little,  he  at 
length  was  won  over  to  consent,  chiefly,  as  it  seemed, 
by  Christina's  obliging  readiness  to  leave  behind  the 
bundle  that  contained  her  holiday  kirtle. 

He  had  been  spared  all  needless  irritation.  Be- 
fore his  waking,  Christina  had  been  at  the  priest's 
cell,  and  had  received  his  last  blessings  and  counsels, 
and  she  had,  on  the  way  back,  exchanged  her  fare- 
wells and  tears  with  her  two  dearest  friends,  Bar- 
bara Schmidt,  and  Kegina  Grundt,  confiding  to  the 
former  her  cage  of  doves,  and  to  the  latter  the 
myrtle,  which,  like  every  German  maiden,  she  cher- 
ished in  her  window,  to  supply  her  future  bridal 
wreath.  Now  pale  as  death,  but  so  resolutely  com- 
posed as  to  be  almost  disappointing  to  her  demon- 
strative aunt,  she  quietly  went  through  her  home 
partings;  while  Hausfrau  Johanna  adjured  her 
father  by  all  that  was  sacred  to  be  a  true  guardian 
and  protector  of  the  child,  and  he  could  not  forbear 
from  a  few  tormenting  auguries  about  the  lanzknecht 
son-in-law.  Their  effect  was  to  make  the  good  dame 
more  passionate  in  her  embraces  and  admonitions  to 
Christina  to  take  care  of  herself.  She  would  have  a 
mass  said  every  day  that  Heaven  might  have  a  care 
of  her ! 

Master  Gottfried  was  going  to  ride  as  far  as  the 


DO  YE  IN  THE  EAGLE 'S  J^EST,  ^5 

confines  of  the  free  city's  territory,  and  his  round, 
sleek,  cream-colored  palfry,  used  to  ambling  in  civic 
processions,  was  as  great  a  contrast  to  raw-boned, 
wild-eyed  Kibelung,  all  dappled  with  misty  gray,  as 
was  the  stately,  substantial  burgher  to  his  lean, 
hungry-looking  brother,  or  Dame  Johanna's  dig- 
nified, curled,  white  poodle,  which  was  forcibly  with- 
held from  following  Christina,  to  the  coarse-bristled, 
wolfish-looking  hound  who  glared  at  the  household 
pet  with  angry  and  contemptuous  eyes,  and  made 
poor  Christina's  heart  throb  with  terror  whenever  it 
bounded  near  her. 

Close  to  her  uncle  she  kept,  as  beneath  the  trel- 
lised  porches  that  came  down  from  the  projecting 
gables  of  the  burghers'  houses  many  a  well-known 
face  gazed  and  nodded,  as  they  took  their  way 
through  the  crooked  streets,  many  a  beggar  or  poor 
widow  waved  her  a  blessing.  Out  into  the  market- 
place, with  its  clear  fountain  adorned  with  arches 
and  statues,  past  the  rising  Dome  Kirk,  where  the 
swarms  of  workmen  unbonneted  to  the  master- 
carver,  and  the  reiter  paused  with  an  irreverent 
sneer  at  the  small  progress  made  since  he  could  first 
remember  the  building.  How  poor  little  Christina's 
soul  clung  to  every  cusp  of  the  lace- work  spire,  every 
arch  of  the  window,  each  of  which  she  had  hailed  as 
an  achievement !  The  tears  had  well-nigh  blinded 
her  in  a  gush  of  feeling  that  came  on  her  unawares, 
and  her  mule  had  his  own  way  as  he  carried  her  un- 
der the  arch  of  the  tall  and  beautifully-sculptured 
bridge  tower,  and  over  the  noble  bridge  across  the 
Danube. 


26  J)0  VE  IN  TBE  EAGLETS  NEST. 

Her  uncle  spoke  much,  low  and  earnestly,  to  his 
brother.  She  knew  it  was  in  commendation  of  her 
to  his  care,  and  an  endeavor  to  impress  him  with  a 
sense  of  the  kind  of  protection  she  would  require, 
and  she  kept  out  of  ear-shot.  It  was  enough  for  her 
to  see  her  uncle  still,  and  feel  that  his  tenderness 
was  with  her,  and  around  her.  But  at  last  he  drew 
his  rein.  "  And  now,  my  little  one,  the  daughter  of 
my  heart,  I  must  bid  thee  farewell,"  he  said. 

Christina  could  not  be  restrained  from  springing 
from  her  mule,  and  kneeling  on  the  grass  to  receive 
his  blessing,  her  face  hidden  in  her  hands,  that  her 
father  might  not  see  her  tears. 

"  The  good  God  bless  thee,  my  child,"  said  Gott- 
fried, who  seldom  invoked  the  saints ;  "  bless  thee, 
and  bring  thee  back  in  His  own  good  time.  Thou 
hast  been  a  good  child  to^  us ;  be  so  to  thine  own 
father.     Do  thy  work  and  come  back  to  us  again." 

The  tears  rained  down  his  cheeks,  as  Christina's 
head  lay  on  his  bosom,  and  then  with  a  last  kiss  he 
lifted  her  again  on  her  mule,  mounted  his  horse,  and 
turned  back  to  the  city,  with  his  servant. 

Hugh  was  merciful  enough  to  let  his  daughter  gaze 
long  after  the  retreating  figure  ere  he  summoned 
her  on.  All  day  they  rode,  at  first  through  meadow 
lands  and  then  througn  more  broken,  open  ground, 
where  at  midday  they  halted,  and  dined  upon  the 
plentiful  fare  with  which  the  housemother  had  pro- 
vived  them,  over  which  Hugh  smacked  his  lips,  and 
owned  that  they  did  live  well  in  the  old  town ! 
Could  Christina  make  such  sausages  ? " 


DO  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST,  27 

"  Kot  as  well  as  my  aunt." 

"  Well,  do  thy  best,  and  thou  wilt  win  favor  with 
the  baron." 

The  evening  began  to  advance,  and  Christina  was 
\QYy  weary,  as  the  purple  mountains  that  she  had 
long  watched  with  a  mixture  of  fear  and  hope  began 
to  look  more  distinct,  and  the  ground  was  often  in 
abrupt  ascents.  Her  father,  without  giving  space 
for  complaints,  hurried  her  on.  He  must  reach  the 
Debatable  Ford  ere  dark.  It  was,  however,  twilight 
when  they  came  to  an  open  space,  where,  at  the  foot 
of  thickly  forest-clad  rising  ground,  lay  an  expanse 
of  turf  and  rich  grass,  through  which  a  stream  made 
its  way,  standing  in  a  wide  tranquil  pool  as  if  to 
rest  after  its  rough  course  from  the  mountains. 
Above  rose,  like  a  dark  wall,  crag  upon  crag,  peak 
on  peak,  in  purple  masses,  blending  with  the  sky ; 
and  Hugh,  pointing  upward  to  a  turreted  point,  ap- 
parently close  above  their  heads,  where  a  star  of 
light  was  burning,  told  her  that  there  was  Adler- 
stein,  and  this  was  the  Debatable  Ford. 

In  fact,  as  he  explained,  while  splashing  through 
the  shallow  expanse,  the  stream  had  changed  its 
course.  It  was  the  boundary  between  the  lands  of 
Schlangenwald  and  Adlerstein,  but  it  had  within  the 
last  sixty  years  burst  forth  in  a  flood,  and  had  then 
declined  to  return  to  its  own  bed,  but  had  flowed  in 
a  fresh  channel  to  the  right  of  the  former  one.  The 
Freiherren  von  Adlerstein  claimed  the  ground  to 
the  old  channel,  the  Graff  en  von  Schlangenwald 
held  that  the  river  was  the  landmark ;  and  the  dis- 


28  DO  VE  m  THE  EAGLE'S  NE8T, 

pute  had  a  greater  importance  than  seemed  explained 
from  the  worth  of  the  rushy  space  of  ground  in 
question,  for  this  was  the  passage  of  the  Italian 
merchants  on  their  way  from  Constance,  and  every 
load  that  was  overthrown  in  the  river  was  regarded 
as  the  lawful  prey  of  the  noble  on  whose  banks  the 
catastrophe  befell. 

Any  freight  of  goods  was  anxiously  watched  by 
both  nobles,  and  it  was  not  their  fault  if  no  disaster 
befell  the  travelers.  Hugh  talked  of  the  Schlangen- 
wald  marauders  with  the  bitterness  of  a  deadly 
feud,  but  manifestly  did  not  breathe  freely  till  his 
whole  convoy  were  safe  across  both  the  wet  and  the 
dry  channel. 

Christina  supposed  they  should  now  ascend  to  the 
castle  ;  but  her  father  laughed,  saying  that  the  castle 
was  not  such  a  step  off  as  she  fancied,  and  that  they 
must  have  daylight  for  the  Eagle's  Stairs.  He  led 
the  way  through  the  trees,  up  ground  that  she 
thought  mountain  already,  and  finally  arrived  at  a 
miserable  little  hut,  which  served  the  purpose  of  an 
inn. 

He  was  received  there  with  much  obsequiousness, 
and  was  plainly  a  great  authority  there.  Christina, 
weary  and  frightened,  descended  from  her  mule,  and 
was  put  under  the  protection  of  a  wild,  rough-looking 
peasant  woman,  who  stared  at  her  like  something 
from  another  world,  but  at  length  showed  her  a  nook 
behind  a  mud  partition,  where  she  could  spread  her 
mantle,  and  at  least  lie  down,  and  tell  her  beads  un- 
seen, if  she  could  not  sleep  in  the  stifling,  smoky  at- 


DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  29 

mosphere,  amid  the  sounds  of  carousal  among  her 
father  and  his  fellows. 

The  great  hound  came  up  and  smelt  her.  His  out- 
line was  so  wolfish,  that  she  had  nearly  screamed ; 
but,  more  in  terror  at  the  men  who  might  have 
helped  her  than  even  at  the  beast,  she  tried  to 
smooth  him  with  her  trembling  hand,  whispered  his 
name  of  "  Festhold,"  and  found  him  licking  her 
hand,  and  wagging  his  long  rough  tail.  And  he 
finally  lay  down  at  her  feet,  as  though  to  protect 
her. 

"  Is  it  a  sign  that  good  angels  will  not  let  me  be 
hurt  ? "  she  thought,  and,  wearied  out,  she  slept. 


30  DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 


CHAPTER    11. 

THE   EYEIE. 

Cheistina  Sorel  awoke  to  a  scene  most  unlike 
that  which  had  been  wont  to  meet  her  eyes  in  her 
own  Httle  wainscoted  chamber  high  in  the  gabled 
front  of  her  uncle's  house.  It  was  a  time  when  the 
imperial  free  towns  of  Germany  had  advanced 
nearly  as  far  as  those  of  Itah^  in  civilization,  and 
had  reached  a  point  whence  they  retrograded  griev- 
ously during  the  Thirty  Years'  war,  even  to  an  ex- 
tent that  they  have  never  entirely  recovered.  The 
country  immediately  around  them  shared  the  benefits 
of  their  civilization,  and  the  free  peasant-proprietors 
lived  in  great  ease  and  prosperity,  in  beautiful  and 
picturesque  farmsteads,  enjoying  a  careless  abun- 
dance, and  keeping  numerous  rural  or  religious 
feasts,  where  old  Teutonic  mythological  observ- 
ances had  received  a  Christian  coloring  and  adapta- 
tion. 

In  the  mountains,  or  around  the  castles,  it  was 
usually  very  different.  The  elective  constitution  of 
the  empire,  the  frequent  change  of  dynasty,  the 
vn'^ny  disputed  successions,  had  combined  to  render 
the  sovereign  authority  uncertain  and  feeble,  and  it 
was  seldom  really  felt  save  in  the  hereditary  domin- 


DO VE  IN  THE  EAQLW8  NEST.  31 

ions  of  the  kaiser  for  the  time  being.  Thus,  while 
the  cities  advanced  in  the  power  of  self-government, 
and  the  education  it  conveyed,  the  nobles,  especially 
those  whose  abodes  were  not  easily  accessible,  were 
often  practically  under  no  government  at  all,  and 
felt  themselves  accountable  to  no  man.  The  old 
wild  freedom  of  the  Suevi,  and  other  Teutonic 
tribes,  still  technically  and  in  many  cases,  practically 
existed.  The  heretogen,  heerzogen,  or,  as  we  call 
them,  dukes,  had  indeed  accepted  employment  from 
the  kaiser  as  his  generals,  and  had  received  rewards 
from  him  ;  the  gerefen,  or  grafifen  of  all  kinds  were 
his  judges,  the  titles  of  both  being  proofs  of  their 
holding  commissions  from,  and  being  thus  depend- 
ent on,  the  court.  But  the  freiherren,  a  word  very 
inadequately  represented  by  our  French  term  of 
baron,  were  absolutely  free,  "  never  in  bondage  to 
any  man,"  holding  their  own,  and  owing  no  duty, 
no  office;  poorer,  because  unendowed  by  the  royal 
authority,  but  holding  themselves  infinitely  higher, 
than  the  pensioners  of  the  court.  Left  behind,  how- 
ever, by  their  neighbors,  who  did  their  part  by  soci- 
ety, and  advanced  with  it,  the  Freiherren  had  been 
for  the  most  part  obliged  to  give  up  their  independ- 
ence and  fall  into  the  system,  but  so  far  in  the  rear, 
that  they  ranked,  like  the  barons  of  France  and  Eng- 
land, as  the  last  order  of  nobility. 

Still,  however,  in  the  wilder  and  more  mountain- 
ous parts  of  the  country  some  of  the  old  families  of 
unreduced,  truly  free  freiherren  lingered,  their 
hand  against  every  man,  and  every  man's  hand 


32  I>0  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

against  them,  and  ever  becoming  more  savage,  both 
positively  and  still  more  proportionately,  as  their 
isolation  and  the  general  progress  around  them  be- 
came greater.  The  house  of  Austria,  by  gradually 
absorbing  hereditary  states  into  its  own  possessions, 
was,  however,  in  the  fifteenth  century,  acquiring  a 
preponderance  that  rendered  its  possession  of  the 
imperial  throne  almost  a  matter  of  inheritance,  and 
moreover  rendered  the  supreme  power  far  more  ef- 
fective than  it  had  ever  previously  been.  Freidrich 
III.,  a  man  still  in  full  vigor,  and  with  an  able  and 
enterprising  son  already  elected  to  the  succession, 
was  making  his  rule  felt,  and  it  was  fast  becoming 
apparent  that  the  days  of  the  independent  baronies 
were  numbered,  and  that  the  only  choice  that  would 
soon  be  left  them  would  be  between  making  terms 
and  being  forcibly  reduced.  Yon  Adlerstein  was 
one  of  the  oldest  of  these  free  families.  If  the  lords 
of  the  Eagle's  Stone  had  ever  followed  the  great 
Konrads  and  Freidrichs  of  Swabia  in  their  imperial 
days,  their  descendants  had  taken  care  to  forget  the 
weakness,  and  believed  themselves  absolutely  free 
from  all  allegiance. 

And  the  wildness  of  their  territory  was  what 
might  be  expected  from  their  hostility  to  all  outward 
influences.  The  hostel,  if  it  deserved  the  name,  was 
little  more  than  a  charcoal-burner's  hut,  hidden  in 
the  woods  at  the  foot  of  the  mountain,  serving  as  a 
halting-place  for  the  frieherren's  retainers  ere  they 
attempted  the  ascent.  The  inhabitants  were  allowed 
to  ply  their  trade  of  charring  wood  in  the  forest  on 


DOVB  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  33 

condition  of  supplying  the  castle  with  charcoal,  and 
of  affording  a  lodging  to  the  followers  on  occasions 
like  the  j)resent. 

Grimy,  half-clad,  and  brawny,  with  the  whites  of 
his  eyes  gleamiag  out  of  his  black  face,  Jobst  the 
kohler  startled  Christina  terribly  when  she  came 
into  the  outer  room,  and  met  him  returning  from 
his  night's  work,  with  his  long  stoking-pole  in 
his  hand.  Her  father  shouted  with  laughter  at  her 
alarm. 

"  Thou  thinkest  thyself  in  the  land  of  the  kobolds 
and  dwarfs,  my  girl!  Never  mind,  thou  wilt  see 
worse  than  honest  Jobst  before  thou  hast  done.  Now 
eat  a  morsel  and  be  ready — mountain  air  will  make 
thee  hungry  ere  thou  art  at  the  castle.  And,  hark 
thee,  Jobst,  thou  must  give  stable-room  to  yon  sump- 
ter-mule  for  the  present,  and  let  some  of  my  daugh- 
ter's gear  lie  in  the  shed." 

"  Ob,  father !  "  exclaimed  Christina  in  dismay. 

"  We'll  bring  it  up,  child,  by  piecemeal,"  he  said 
in  a  low  voice,  "  as  we  can ;  but  if  such  a  freight 
came  to  the  castle  at  once,  my  lady  would  have  her 
claws  on  it,  and  little  more  wouldst  thou  ever  see 
thereof.  Moreover,  I  shall  have  enough  to  do  to 
look  after  thee  up  the  ascent,  without  another  of 
these  city-bred  beasts." 

"  I  hope  the  poor  mule  mil  be  well  cared  for.     I 

can  pay  for "  began  Christina ;  but  her  father 

squeezed  her  arm,  and  drowned  her  soft  voice  in  his 
loud  tones. 

"  Jobst  will  take  care  of  the  beast,  as  belonging 


34  JDOVE  IN  TEE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

to  me.  Woe  betide  him^  if  I  find  it  the  worse ! " 
and  his  added  imprecations  seemed  unneccessary, 
so  earnest  were  the  asseverations  of  both  the 
man  and  his  wife  that  the  animal  should  be  well 
cared  for. 

"  Look  you,  Christina,"  said  Hugh  Sorel,  as  soon 
as  he  had  placed  her  on  her  mule,  and  led  her  out  of 
hearing,  "  if  thou  hast  any  gold  about  thee,  let  it  be 
the  last  thing  thou  ownest  to  any  living  creature  up 
there."  Then,  as  she  was  about  to  speak — "  Do  not 
even  tell  me.  I  will  not  know."  The  caution  did 
not  add  much  to  Christina's  comfort ;  but  she  pres- 
ently asked,  "  Where  is  thy  steed,  father  ? " 

"  I  sent  him  up  to  the  castle  with  the  Schneider- 
lein  and  Yellow  Lorentz,"  answered  the  father.  "  I 
shall  have  ado  enough  on  foot  with  thee  before  we 
are  up  the  Ladder." 

The  father  and  daughter  were  meantime  proceed- 
ing along  a  dark  path  through  oak  and  birch  woods 
constantly  ascending,  until  the  oak  grew  stunted  and 
disappeared,  and  the  opening  glades  showed  steep, 
stony,  torrent-furrowed  ramparts  of  hillside  above 
them,  looking  to  Christina's  eyes  as  if  she  were  set 
to  climb  up  the  cathedral  side  like  a  snail  or  a  fly. 
She  quite  gasped  for  breath  at  the  very  sight,  and 
was  told  in  return  to  wait  and  see  what  she  would 
yet  say  to  the  Adlerstreppe,  or  Eagle's  Ladder. 
Poor  child  !  she  had  no  raptures  for  romantic  scen- 
ery ;  she  knew  that  jagged  peaks  made  very  pretty 
backgrounds  in  illuminations,  but  she  had  much 
rather  have  been  in  the  smooth  meadows  of  the  en- 


DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE' 8  NEST.  35 

virons  of  Ulm.  The  Danube  looked  much  more 
agreeable  to  her,  silver-winding  between  its  green 
banks,  than  did  the  same  waters  leaping  down  with 
noisy  voices  in  their  stony,  worn  beds  to  feed  the 
river  that  she  only  knew  in  his  grave  breadth  and 
majesty.  Yet,  alarmed  as  she  was,  there  was 
something  in  the  exhilaration  and  elasticity  of  the 
mountain  air  that  gave  her  an  entirely  new  sen- 
sation  of  enjoyment  and  life,  and  seemed  to  brace 
her  limbs  and  spirits  for  whatever  might  be  before 
her;  and,  willing  to  show  herself  ready  to  be 
gratified,  she  observed  on  the  freshness  and  sweet- 
ness of  the  air. 

"  Thou  find-st  it  out,  child  ?  Ay,  'tis  worth  all 
the  feather-beds  and  pouncet-boxes  in  Ulm ;  is  it 
not  ?  That  accursed  Italian  fever  never  left  me  till 
I  came  up  here.  A  man  can  scarce  draw  breath  in 
your  foggy  meadows  below  there.  Now,  then,  here 
is  the  view  open.  What  think  you  of  the  Eagle's 
E'est  ? " 

For,  having  passed  beyond  the  region  of  wood 
they  had  come  forth  upon  the  mountain-side.  A 
not  immoderately  steep  slope  of  boggy,  mossy-look- 
ing ground  covered  with  bilberries,  cranberries  etc., 
and  with  bare  rocks  here  and  there  rising,  went 
away  above  out  of  her  ken  ;  but  the  path  she  was 
upon  turned  round  the  shoulder  of  the  mountain, 
and  to  the  left,  on  a  ledge  of  rock  cut  off  appar- 
ently on  their  side  by  a  deep  ravine,  and  with  a 
sheer  precipice  above  and  below  it,  stood  a  red  stone 
pile,  with  one  turret  far  above  the  rest. 


36  DO  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

"  And  this  is  Schloss  Adlerstein  ? "  she  exclaimed. 

"  That  is  Schloss  Adlerstein  ;  and  there  shalt  thou 
be  in  two  hours'  time,  unless  the  devil  be  more  than 
usually  busy,  or  thou  ma^k'st  a  fool  of  thyself.  If 
so,  not  Satan  himself  could  save  thee." 

It  was  well  that  Christina  had  resolution  to  pre- 
vent her  making  a  fool  of  herself  on  the  spot,  for 
the  thought  of  the  pathAvay  turned  her  so  dizzy  that 
she  could  only  shut  her  eyes,  trusting  that  her 
father  did  not  see  her  terror.  Soon  the  turn  round 
to  the  side  of  the  mountain  was  made,  and  the  road 
became  a  mere  track  worn  out  on  the  turf  on  the 
hillside,  with  an  abyss  beneath,  close  to  the  edge  of 
which  the  mule,  of  course,  walked. 

When  she  ventured  to  look  again,  she  perceived 
that  the  ravine  was  like  an  enormous  crack  open  on 
the  mountain-side,  and  that  the  stream  that  formed 
the  Debatable  Ford  flowed  down  the  bottom  of  it. 
The  ravine  itself  went  probably  all  the  way  up  the 
mountain,  growing  shallower  as  it  ascended  higher  ; 
but  here,  where  Christina  beheld  it,  it  was  extremely 
deep,  and  savagely  desolate  and  bare.  She  now 
saw  that  the  Eagle's  Ladder  was  a  succession  of 
bare  gigantic  terraces  of  rock,  of  which  the  opposite 
.side  of  the  ravine  was  composed,  and  on  one  of 
which  stood  the  castle.  It  was  no  small  mystery  to 
her  how  it  had  ever  been  built,  or  how  she  was  ever 
to  get  there.  She  saw  in  the  opening  of  the  ravine 
the  green  meadows  and  woods  far  below ;  and, 
when  her  father  pointed  out  to  her  the  Debatable 
Ford,  apparently  much  nearer  to  the  castle  than 


DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  37 

they  themselves  were  at  present,  she  asked  why 
they  had  so  far  overpassed  the  castle,  and  come  by 
this  circuitous  course. 

"  Because,"  said  Hugh,  "  we  are  not  eagles  out- 
right. Seest  thou  not,  just  beyond  the  castle  court, 
this  whole  crag  of  ours  breaks  off  short,  falls  like 
the  town  wall  straight  down  into  the  plain  ?  Even 
this  cleft  that  we  are  crossing  by,  the  only  road  a 
horse  can  pass,  breaks  off  short  and  sudden  too,  so 
that  the  river  is  obliged  to  take  leaps  which  nought 
else  but  a  chamois  could  compass.  A  footpath  there 
is,  and  Freiherr  Eberhard  takes  it  at  all  times,  being 
born  to  it ;  but  even  I  am  too  stiff  for  the  like. 
Ha !  ha !  Thy  uncle  may  talk  of  the  kaiser  and 
his  league,  but  he  would  change  his  note  if  we  had 
him  here." 

"  Yet  castles  have  been  taken  by  hunger,"  said 
Christina. 

"  What,  knowest  thou  so  much  ?  True  !  But 
look  you,"  pointing  to  a  white  foamy  thread  that 
descended  the  opposite  steeps,  "  yonder  beck  dashes 
through  the  castle  court,  and  it  never  dries ;  and 
see  you  the  ledge  the  castle  stands  on  ?  It  winds  on 
out  of  your  sight,  and  forms  a  path  which  leads  to 
the  village  of  Adlerstein,  out  on  the  other  slope  of 
the  mountains  ;  and  ill  were  it  for  the  serfs  if  they 
victualed  not  the  castle  well." 

The  fearful  steepness  of  the  ground  absorbed  all 
Christina's  attention.  The  road,  or  rather  stairs, 
came  down  to  the  stream  at  the  bottom  of  the  fis- 
sure, and  then  went  again  on  the  other  side  up  still 


38  I>0  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE 'S  NEST. 

more  tremendous  steeps,  which  Hugh  clunbed  with 
a  staff,  sometimes  with  his  hand  on  the  bridle,  but 
more  often  only  keeping  a  watchful  eye  on  the  sure- 
footed mule,  and  an  arm  to  steady  his  daughter  in 
the  saddle  when  she  grew  absolutely  faint  with 
giddiness  at  the  abyss  around  her.  She  was  too 
much  in  awe  of  him  to  utter  cry  or  complaint,  and, 
when  he  saw  her  effort  to  subdue  her  mortal  terror, 
he  was  far  from  unkind,  and  let  her  feel  his  protect- 
ing strength. 

Presently  a  voice  was  heard  above — "What, 
Sorel,  hast  brought  her !  Trudchen  is  wearying  for 
her." 

The  words  were  in  the  most  boorish  dialect  and 
pronunciation,  the  stranger  to  Christina's  ears, 
because  intercourse  with  foreign  merchants,  and  a 
growing  affectation  of  Latinism,  had  much  refined 
the  city  language  to  which  she  was  accustomed; 
and  she  was  surprised  to  perceive  by  her  father's 
gesture  and  address  that  the  speaker  must  be  one  of 
the  lords  of  the  castle.  She  looked  up,  and  saw  on 
the  pathway  above  her  a  tall,  large-framed  young 
man,  his  skin  dyed  red  with  sun  and  wind,  in  odd 
contrast  with  his  pale  shaggy  hair,  mustache  and 
beard,  as  though  the  weather  had  tanned  the  one 
and  bleached  the  other.  His  dress  was  a  still 
shabbier  buff  suit  than  her  father  had  worn,  but 
with  a  richly  embroidered  belt  sustaining  a  hunting- 
horn  with  finely-chased  ornaments  of  tarnished 
silver,  and  an  eagle's  plume  was  fastened  into  his  cap 
with  a  large  gold  Italian  coin.     He  stared  hard  at 


DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  39 

the  maiden,  but  vouchsafed  her  no  token  of  greet- 
ing— only  distressed  her  considerably  by  distracting 
her  father's  attention  from  her  mule  by  his  questions 
about  the  journey,  all  in  the  same  rude,  coarse  tone 
and  phraseology.  Some  amount  of  illusion  was  dis- 
pelled. Christina  was  quite  prepared  to  find  the 
mountain  lords  dangerous  ruffians,  but  she  had  ex- 
pected the  graces  of  courtesy  and  high  birth ;  but, 
though  there  was  certainly  an  air  of  command  and 
freedom  of  bearing  about  the  present  specimen,  his 
manners  and  speech  were  more  uncouth  than  those 
of  any  newly-caught  apprentice  of  her  uncle,  and  she 
could  not  help  thinking  that  her  good  aunt  Johanna 
need  not  have  troubled  herself  about  the  danger  of 
her  taking  a  liking  to  any  such  young  freiherr  as  she 
here  beheld. 

By  this  time  a  last  effort  of  the  mule  had  climbed 
to  the  level  of  the  castle.  As  her  father  had  shown 
her,  there  was  a  precipice  on  two  sides  of  the  build- 
ing ;  on  the  third,  a  sheer  wall  of  rock  going  up  to  a 
huge  height  before  it  reached  another  of  the  Eagle's 
Steps ;  and  on  the  fourth,  where  the  gateway  was, 
the  little  beck  had  been  made  to  flow  in  a  deep 
channel  that  had  been  hollowed  out  to  serve  as  a 
moat,  before  it  bounded  doAvn  to  swell  the  larger 
water-course  in  the  ravine.  A  temporary  bridge  had 
been  laid  across ;  the  drawbridge  was  out  of  order, 
and  part  of  Hugh's  business  had  been  to  procure 
materials  for  mending  its  apparatus.  Christina  was 
told  to  dismount  and  cross  on  foot.  The  unrailed 
board,  so  close  to  the  abyss,  and  with  the  wild  water 


40  DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

foaming  above  and  below,  was  dreadful  to  her ;  and, 
though  she  durst  not  speak,  she  hung  back  with  an 
involuntary  shudder,  as  her  father,  occupied  with 
the  mule,  did  not  think  of  giving  her  a  hand.  The 
3^oung  baron  burst  out  into  an  unrestrained  laugh — 
a  still  greater  shock  to  her  feelings ;  but  at  the  same 
time  he  roughly  took  her  hand  and  almost  dragged 
her  across,  saying,  "  City  bred — ho,  ho ! "  "  Thanks, 
sir,"  she  strove  to  say,  but  she  was  very  near  weep- 
ing with  the  terror  and  strangeness  of  all  around. 

The  low-browed  gateway,  barely  high  enough  to 
admit  a  man  on  horseback,  opened  before  her,  al- 
most to  her  feelings  like  the  gate  of  the  grave,  and 
she  could  not  help  crossing  herself,  with  a  silent 
prayer  for  protection,  as  she  stepped  under  it,  and 
came  into  the  castle  court — not  such  a  court  as  gave 
its  name  to  fair  courtesy,  but,  if  truth  must  be  told, 
far  more  resembling  an  ill-kept,  ill-savored  stable- 
yard,  with  the  piggeries  opening  into  it.  In  un- 
pleasantly close  quarters,  the  Schneiderlein,  or  little 
tailor,  i.e.  the  biggest  and  fiercest  of  all  the  knappen, 
was  grooming  Mbelung ;  three  long-backed,  long- 
legged,  frightful  swine  were  grubbing  in  a  heap  of 
refuse;  four  or  five  gaunt,  ferocious-looking  dogs 
came  bounding  up  to  greet  their  comrade  Festhold ; 
and  a  great  old  long-bearded  goat  stood  on  the  top 
of  the  mixen,  looking  much  disposed  to  butt  at  any 
newcomer.  The  Sorel  family  had  brought  cleanli- 
ness from  Flanders,  and  Hausfrau  Johanna  was 
scrupulously  dainty  in  all  her  appointments.  Chris- 
tina scarcely  knew  how  she  conveyed  herself  and  her 


DO  VB  IN  THE  EAGLE 'S  NEST.  41 

blue  kirtle  across  the  bemired  stones  to  the  next  and 
still  darker  portal,  under  which  a  wide  but  rough 
ill-hewn  stair  ascended.  The  stables,  in  fact,  occu- 
pied the  lower  floor  of  the  main  building,  and  not 
till  these  stairs  had  ascended  above  them  did  they 
lead  out  into  the  castle  hall.  Here  were  voices — 
voices  rude  and  harsh,  like  those  Christina  had 
shrunk  from  in  passing  drinking  booths.  There  was 
a  long  table,  with  rough  men-at-arms  lounging 
about,  and  staring  rudely  at  her  ;  and  at  the  upper 
end,  by  a  great  open  chimney,  sat,  half -dozing,  an 
elderly  man,  more  rugged  in  feature  than  his  son ; 
and  yet,  when  he  roused  himself  and  spoke  to  Hugh, 
there  was  a  shade  more  of  breeding,  and  less  of 
clownishness,  in  his  voice  and  deportment,  as  if  he 
had  been  less  entirely  devoid  of  training.  A  tall 
darkly-robed  woman  stood  beside  him — it  was  her 
harsh  tone  of  reproof  and  command  that  had  so 
startled  Christina  as  she  entered — and  her  huge 
towering  cap  made  her  look  gigantic  in  the  dim  light 
of  the  smoky  hall.  Her  features  had  been  hand- 
some, but  had  become  hardened  into  a  grim  wooden 
aspect ;  and  with  sinking  spirits  Christina  paused  at 
the  step  of  the  dais,  and  made  her  reverence,  wish- 
ing she  could  sink  beneath  the  stones  of  the  pave- 
ment out  of  sight  of  these  terrible  personages. 

"So  that's  the  wench  you  hav€  taken  all  this 
trouble  for,"  was  Freiherrinn  Kunigunde's  greeting. 
''  She  looks  like  another  sick  baby  to  nurse  ;  but  I'll 
have  no  trouble  about  her  ;  that  is  all.  Take  her 
up  to  Ermentrude ;  and  thou,  girl,  have  a  care  thou 


4^  DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

dost  her  will,  and  puttest  none  of  thy  city  fancies 
mto  her  head." 

"  And  hark  thee,  girl,"  added  the  old  freiherr, 
sitting  up.  "  So  thou  canst  nurse  her  well,  thou 
shalt  have  a  new  gown  and  a  stout  husband." 

"  That  way,"  pointed  the  lady  toward  one  of  the 
four  corner  towers ;  and  Christina  moved  doubtfully 
toward  it,  reluctant  to  quit  her  father,  her  only 
protector,  and  afraid  to  introduce  herself.  The 
younger  freiherr^  however,  stepped  before  her, 
went  striding  two  or  three  steps  at  a  time  up  the 
turret  stair,  and,  before  Christina  had  wound  her 
way  up,  she  heard  a  thin,  impatient  voice  say, 
'*  Thou  saidst  she  was  come,  Ebbo." 

"  Yes,  even  so,"  she  heard  Freiherr  Eberhard  re- 
turn ;  "  but  she  is  slow  and  town-bred.  She  was 
afraid  of  crossing  the  moat."  And  then  both 
laughed,  so  that  Christina's  cheek  tingled  as  she 
emerged  from  the  turret  into  another  vaulted  room. 
"  Here  she  is,"  quoth  the  brother ;  "  now  will  she 
make  thee  quite  well." 

It  was  a  very  bare  and  desolate  room,  with  no 
hangings  on  the  rough  stone  walls,  and  scarcely  any 
furniture,  except  a  great  carved  bedstead,  one 
wooden  chair,  a  table  and  some  stools.  On  the 
bare  floor,  in  front  of  the  fire,  her  arm  under  her 
head,  and  a  profusion  of  long  hair  falling  round  her 
like  flax  from  a  distaff,  lay  wearily  a  little  figure, 
beside  whom  Sir  Eberhard  was  kneeling  on  one 
knee. 

"  Here  is  my  sisterling,"  said  he,  looking  up  to 


DOVE  IN  TEE  EAGLE'S  NB8T.  43 

the  new-comer.  "  They  say  you  burgher  women 
have  ways  of  healing  the  sick.  Look  at  her.  Think 
you  you  can  heal  her  ? " 

In  an  excess  of  dumb  shyness  Erraentrude  half 
rose,  and  effectually  hindered  any  observations  on 
her  looks  by  hiding  her'  face  away  upon  her 
brother's  knee.  It  was  the  gesture  of  a  child  of 
five  years  old,  but  Ermentrude's  length  of  limb  for- 
bade Christina  to  suppose  her  less  than  fourteen  or 
fifteen.  ''  What,  wilt  not  look  at  her  ? "  he  said, 
trying  to  raise  her  head ;  and  then,  holding  out  one 
of  her  wasted,  feverish  hands  to  Christina,  he  again 
asked,  with  a  wistfulness  that  had  a  strange  effect 
from  the  large,  tall  man,  almost  ten  years  her  elder, 
"  Canst  thou  cure  her,  maiden  ?  " 

"  I  am  no  doctor,  sir,"  replied  Christina  ;  "  but  I 
could,  at  least  make  her  more  comfortable.  The 
stone  is  too  hard  for  her." 

"  I  will  not  go  away  ;  I  want  the  fire,"  murmured 
the  sick  girl,  holding  out  her  hands  toward  it,  and 
shivering. 

Christina  quickly  took  off  her  own  thick  cloth 
mantle,  well  lined  with  dressed  lambskins,  laid  it  on 
the  floor,  rolled  the  collar  of  it  over  a  small  log  of 
wood — the  only  substitute  she  could  see  for  a  pillow 
— and  showed  an  inviting  couch  in  an  instant. 
Ermentrude  let  her  brother  lay  her  down,  and  then 
was  covered  with  the  ample  fold.  She  smiled  as 
she  turned  up  her  thin,  wasted  face,  faded  into  the 
same  whitey-brown  tint  as  her  hair.  "That  is 
good,"  she  said,  but  without  thanks ;    and  feeling 


44  DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

the  soft  lambs  wool :  "  Is  that  what  you  burgher- 
women  wear  ?  Father  is  to  give  me  a  furred  man- 
tle, if  only  some  court  dame  would  pass  the  Debat- 
able Ford.  But  the  Schlangenwaldern  got  the  last 
before  ever  we  could  get  down.  Jobst  was  so 
stupid.  He  did  not  give  us  warning  in  time ;  but 
he  is  to  be  hanged  next  time  if  he  does  not." 

Christina's  blood  curdled  as  she  heard  this  speech 
in  a  weak  little  complaining  tone,  that  otherwise 
put  her  sadly  in  mind  of  Barbara  Schmidt's  little 
sister,  who  had  pined  and  wasted  to  death.  "  I^ever 
mind,  Trudchen,"  answered  the  brother  kindly ; 
"  meanwhile  I  have  kept  all  the  wild  catskins  for 
thee,  and  may  be  this — this — she  could  sew  them  up 
into  a  mantle  for  thee." 

"  O  let  me  see,"  cried  the  young  lady  eagerly ; 
and  Sir  Eberhard,  walking  off,  presently  returned 
with  an  armful  of  the  beautiful  brindled  furs  of  the 
mountain  cat,  reminding  Christina  of  her  aunt's  gen- 
tle domestic  favorite.  Ermentrude  sat  up,  and  re- 
garded the  placing  out  of  them  with  interest; 
and  thus  her  brother  left  her  employed,  and  so  much 
delighted  that  she  had  not  flagged,  when  a  great 
bell  proclaimed  that  it  was  the  time  for  the  noon- 
tide meal,  for  which  Christina,  in  spite  of  all  her 
fears  of  the  company  below  stairs,  had  been  con- 
strained by  mountain  air  to  look  forward  with  sat- 
isfaction. 

Ermentrude,  she  found,  meant  to  go  down,  but 
with  no  notion  of  the  personal  arrangements  that 
Christina  had  been  wont  to  think  a  needful  prelim- 


DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE' 8  NEST.  45 

inary.  With  all  her  hair  streaming,  down  she  went, 
and  was  so  gladly  welcomed  by  Iier  father  that  it 
was  plain  that  her  presence  was  regarded  as  an  un- 
usual advance  toward  recovery,  and  Christina  feared 
lest  he  might  already  be  looking  out  for  the  stout 
husband.  She  had  much  to  tell  him  about  the  cat- 
skin  cloak,  and  then  she  was  seized  with  eager  curi- 
osity at  the  sight  of  Christina's  bundles,  and 
especially  at  her  lute,  which  she  must  hear  at  once. 

"  IS'ot  now,"  said  her  mother,  "  there  will  be  jang- 
ling and  jingling  enough  by  and  by — ^meat  now." 

The  whole  establishment  were  taking  their  places 
— or  rather  tumbling  into  them.  A  battered,  shape- 
less metal  vessel  seemed  to  represent  the  salt-cellar, 
and  next  to  it  Hugh  Sorel  seated  himself,  and  kept 
a  place  for  her  beside  him.  Otherwise  she  would 
hardly  have  had  seat  or  food.  She  was  now  able 
to  survey  the  inmates  of  the  castle.  Besides  the 
family  themselves,  there  were  about  a  dozen  men, 
all  ruffianly-looking,  and  of  much  lower  grade  than 
her  father,  and  three  women.  One,  old  Ursel,  the 
wife  of  Hatto  the  forester,  was  a  bent,  worn,  but 
not  ill-looking  woman,  with  a  motherly  face  ;  the 
younger  ones  were  hard,  bold  creatures,  from  whom 
Christina  felt  a  shrinking  recoil.  The  meal  was 
dressed  by  Ursel  and  her  kitchen  boy.  From  a 
great  cauldron,  goat's  flesh  and  broth  together  were 
ladled  out  into  wooden  bowls.  That  every  one 
provided  their  own  spoon  and  knife — no  fork — was 
only  what  Christina  was  used  to  in  the  most  refined 
society,  and  she  had  the  implements  in  a  pouch 


46  DOVE  IN  THE  EA OLE 'S  NEST. 

hanging  to  her  girdle ;  but  she  was  not  prepared  for 
the  unwashed  condition  of  the  bowls,  nor  for  being 
obliged  to  share  that  of  her  father — far  less  for  the 
absence  of  all  blessing  on  the  meal,  and  the  coarse 
boisterousness  of  manners  prevailing  thereat.  Hungry 
as  she  was,  she  did  not  find  it  easy  to  take  food 
under  these  circumstances,  and  she  was  relieved 
when  Ermentrude,  overcome  by  the  turmoil,  grew 
giddy,  and  was  carried  upstairs  by  her  father,  who 
laid  her  down  upon  her  great  bed,  and  left  her  to 
the  attendance  of  Christina.  Ursel  had  followed, 
but  was  petulantly  repulsed  by  her  young  lady  in 
favor  of  the  newcomer,  and  went  away  grumbling. 

]S"estled  on  her  bed,  Ermentrude  insisted  on  hear- 
ing the  lute,  and  Christina  had  to  creep  down  to 
fetch  it,  with  some  other  of  her  goods,  in  trembling 
haste,  and  redoubled  disgust  at  the  aspect  of  the  meal, 
which  looked  even  more  repulsive  in  this  later  stage, 
and  to  one  who  was  no  longer  partaking  of  it. 

Low  and  softly,  with  a  voice  whence  she  could 
scarcely  banish  tears,  and  in  dread  of  attracting  at- 
tention, Christina  sung  to  the  sick  girl,  who  listened 
with  a  sort  of  rude  wonder,  and  finally  was  lulled  to 
sleep.  Christina  ventured  to  lay  down  her  instru- 
ment and  move  toward  the  window,  heavily  mulli- 
oned  with  stone,  barred  with  iron,  and  glazed  with 
thick  glass ;  being  in  fact  the  only  glazed  window 
in  the  castle.  To  her  great  satisfaction  it  did  not 
look  out  over  the  loathsome  court,  but  over  the  open- 
ing of  the  ravine.  The  apartment  occupied  the  whole 
floor  of  the  keep  ;  it  was  stone-paved,  but  the  roof 


DOVE  m  THE  EAGLE' 8  NEST.  47 

was  boarded,  and  there  was  a  round  turret  at  each 
angle.  One  contained  the  staircase,  and  was  that 
which  ran  up  above  the  keep,  served  as  a  watch- 
tower,  and  supported  the  eagle  banner.  The  other 
three  were  empty,  and  one  of  these,  which  had  a 
strong  door,  and  a  long  loophole  window  looking 
out  over  the  open  country,  Christina  hoped  that  she 
might  appropriate.  The  turret  was  immediately 
over  the  perpendicular  cliff  that  descended  into  the 
plain.  A  stone  thrown  from  the  window  would 
have  gone  straight  down,  she  knew  not  where. 
Close  to  her  ears  rushed  the  descending  waterfall 
in  its  leap  over  the  rock  side,  and  her  eyes  could 
rest  themselves  on  the  green  meadow  land  below, 
and  the  smooth  water  of  the  Debatable  Ford ;  nay 
— far,  far  away  beyond  retreating  ridges  of  wood 
and  field — she  thought  she  could  track  a  silver 
line  and,  guided  by  it,  a  something  that  might  be  a 
city.  Hor  heart  leaped  toward  it,  but  she  was  re- 
called by  Ermentrude's  fretfully  imperious  voice. 

"I  was  only  looking  forth  from  the  window, 
lady,"  she  said,  returning. 

"Ah!  thou  saw'st  no  travelers  at  the  Ford?" 
cried  Ermentrude,  starting  up  with  lively  interest. 

"  1^0,  lady ;  I  was  gazing  at  the  far  distance. 
Know  you  if  it  be  indeed  Ulm  that  we  see  from 
these  windows  ? " 

"  Ulm  ?  That  is  where  thou  comest  from  ? "  said 
Ermentrude,  languidly. 

"  My  happy  home,  with  my  dear  uncle  and  aunt ! 
O,  if  I  can  but  see  it  hence,  it  will  be  joy  ! " 


48  DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

"  I  do  not  know.  Let  me  see,"  said  Ermentrude, 
rising ;  but  at  the  window  her  pale  blue  eyes  gazed 
vacantly  as  if  she  did  not  know  what  she  was  look- 
ing at  or  for. 

"  Ah !  if  the  steeple  of  the  Dome  Kirk  were  but 
finished,  I  could  not  mistake  it,"  said  Christina. 
"How  beauteous  the  white  spire  will  look  from 
hence ! " 

"  Dome  Kirk  ? "  repeated  Ermentrude  ;  "  what  is 
that  ?  " 

Such  an  entire  blank  as  the  poor  child's  mind 
seemed  to  be  was  inconceivable  to  the  maiden,  who 
had  been  bred  up  in  the  busy  hum  of  men,  where 
the  constant  resort  of  strange  merchants,  the  daily 
interests  of  a  self-governing  municipality,  and  the 
numerous  festivals,  both  secular  and  religious,  were 
an  unconscious  education,  even  without  that  which 
had  been  bestowed  upon  her  by  teachers,  as  well  as 
by  her  companionship  with  her  uncle,  and  partici- 
pation in  his  studies,  tastes  and  arts. 

Ermentrude  von  Adlerstein  had,  on  the  contrary, 
not  only  never  gone  beyond  the  kohler's  hut  on  the 
one  side,  and  the  mountain  village  on  the  other,  but 
she  had  never  seen  more  of  life  than  the  festival  at 
the  wake  at  the  hermitage  chapel  there  on  midsum- 
mer-day. The  only  strangers  who  ever  came  to  the 
castle  were  disbanded  lanzknechts  who  took  service 
with  her  father,  or  now  and  then  a  captive  whom  he 
put  to  ransom.  She  knew  absolutely  nothing  of  the 
world,  except  for  a  general  belief  that  freiherren 
lived  there  to  do  what  they  chose  with  other  people, 


DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  49 

and  that  the  house  of  Adlerstein  was  the  freest  and 
noblest  in  existence.  Also  there  was  a  very  positive 
hatred  to  the  house  of  Schlangenwald,  and  no  less  to 
that  of  Adlerstein  Wildschloss,  for  no  reason  that 
Christina  could  discover  save  that,  being  a  younger 
branch  of  the  family,  they  had  submitted  to  the  em- 
peror. To  destroy  either  the  Graf  von  Schlangen- 
wald, or  her  Wildschloss  cousin,  was  evidently  the 
highest  gratification  Ermentrude  could  conceive ; 
and,  for  the  rest,  that  her  father  and  brother  should 
make  successful  captures  at  the  Debatable  Ford 
was  the  more  abiding,  because  more  practicable 
hope.  She  had  no  further  ideas,  except  perhaps  to 
elude  her  mother's  severity,  and  to  desire  her 
brother's  success  in  chamois-hunting.  The  only 
mental  culture  she  had  ever  received  was  that  old 
Ursel  had  taught  her  the  Credo,  Pater  Foster,  and 
Ave,  as  correctly  as  might  be  expected  from  a  long 
course  of  traditionary  repetitions  of  an  incompre- 
hensible language.  And  she  knew  besides  a  few 
German  rhymes  and  jingles,  half  Christian,  half 
heathen,  with  a  legend  or  two  which,  if  the  names 
were  Christian,  ran  grossly  wild  from  all  Christian 
meaning  or  morality.  As  to  the  amenities,  nay,  al- 
most the  proprieties,  of  life,  they  were  less  known  in 
that  baronial  castle  than  in  any  artisan's  house  at 
Ulm.  So  little  had  the  sick  girl  figured  them  to 
herself,  that  she  did  not  even  desire  any  greater 
means  of  ease  than  she  possessed.  She  moaned  and 
fretted  indeed,  with  aching  limbs  and  blank  weari- 
ness, but  without  the    slightest  formed  desire  for 


50  DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

anything  to  remove  her  discomfort,  except  the  few 
ameliorations  she  knew,  such  as  sitting  on  her 
brother's  knee,  with  her  head  on  his  shoulder,  or 
tasting  the  mountain  berries  that  he  gathered  for 
her.  Any  other  desire  she  exerted  herself  to  frame 
was  for  fi:^nery  to  be  gained  from  the  spoils  of 
travelers. 

And  this  was  Christina's  charge,  whom  she  must 
look  upon  of  the  least  alien  spirit  in  this  dreadful 
castle  of  banishment!  The  young  and  old  lords 
seemed  to  her  savage  bandits,  who  frightened  her 
only  less  than  did  the  proud  sinister  expression  of 
the  old  lady,  for  she  had  not  even  the  merit  of 
showing  any  tenderness  toward  the  sickly  girl,  of 
whom  she  was  ashamed,  and  evidently  regarded  the 
town-bred  attendant  as  a  contemptible  interloper. 

Long,  long  did  the  maiden  weep  and  pray  that 
night  after  Ermentrude  had  sunk  to  sleep.  She 
strained  her  eyes  with  home-sick  longings  to  detect 
lights  where  she  thought  Ulm  might  be ;  and,  as  she 
thought  of  her  uncle  and  aunt,  the  poodle  and  the 
cat  round  the  stove,  the  maids  spinning  and  the 
'prentices  knitting  as  her  uncle  read  aloud  some 
grave  good  book,  most  probably  the  legend  of  the 
saint  of  the  day,  and  contrasted  it  with  the  rude 
gruff  sounds  of  revelry  that  found  their  way  up  the 
turret  stairs,  she  could  hardly  restrain  her  sobs  from 
awakening  the  young  lady  whose  bed  she  was  to 
share.  She  thought  almost  with  envy  of  her  own 
patroness,  who  was  cast  into  the  lake  of  Bolsena 
with  a  millstone  around  her  neck — a  better  fate, 


BO  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST  51 

thought  she,  than  to  live  on  in  such  an  abode  of 
loathsomeness  and  peril. 

But  then  had  not  St.  Christina  floated  up  alive, 
bearing  up  her  millstone  with  her  ?  And  had  not 
she  been  put  into  a  dungeon  full  of  venomous 
reptiles  who,  when  they  approached  her,  had  aU 
been  changed  to  harmless  doves?  Christina  had 
once  asked  Father  Balthazer  how  this  could  be; 
and  had  he  not  replied  that  the  church  did  not 
teach  these  miracles  as  matters  of  faith,  but  that 
she  might  there  discern  in  figure  how  meek 
Christian  holiness  rose  above  all  crushing  burthens, 
and  transformed  the  rudest  natures.  This  poor 
maiden — dying,  perhaps ;  and  oh !  how  unfit  to  live 
or  die  ! — might  it  be  her  part  to  do  some  good  work 
by  her,  and  infuse  some  Christian  hope,  some  godly 
fear  ?  Could  it  be  for  this  that  the  saints  had  led 
her  hither  ? 


52     *  I>0  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE '3  NEST 


CHAPTEE  III. 

THE  FLOTSAM      AND       JETSAM        OF       THE        DEBATABLE 

FORD. 

Life  in  Schloss  Adlerstein  was  little  less  intolerble 
than  Christina's  imagination  had  depicted  it.  It 
was  entirely  devoid  of  all  the  graces  of  chivalry,  and 
its  squalor  and  coarseness,  magnified  into  absurdity 
by  haughtiness  and  violence,  were  almost  inconceiv- 
able. Fortunately  for  her,  the  inmates  of  the  castle 
resided  almost  wholly  below  stairs  in  the  hall  and 
kitchen,  and  in  some  dismal  dens  in  the  thickness  of 
their  walls.  The  height  of  the  keep  was  intended 
for  dignity  and  defense,  rather  than  for  habitation ; 
and  the  upper  chamber,  with  its  great  state-bed, 
where  everybody  of  the  house  of  Adlerstein  was 
born  or  died,  was  not  otherwise  used,  except  when 
Ermentrude,  unable  to  bear  the  oppressive  confusion 
below  stairs,  had  escaped  thither  for  quietness'  sake. 
No  one  else  wished  to  inhabit  it.  The  chamber 
above  was  filled  with  the  various  appliances  for  the 
defense  of  the  castle;  and  no  one  would  have  ever  gone 
up  the  turret  stairs  had  not  a  warder  been  usually 
kept  on  the  roof  to  watch  the  roads  leading  to  the 
Ford.  Otherwise  the  Adlersteiners  had  all  the 
savage  instinct  of  herding  together  in  as  small  a 
space  as  possible. 


DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  63 

Freiherrin  Kunigunde  hardly  ever  mounted  to  her 
daughter's  chamber.  All  her  affection  was  centered 
on  the  strong  and  manly  son,  of  whom  she  was 
proud,  while  the  sickly  pining  girl,  who  would 
hardly  find  a  mate  of  her  own  rank,  and  who  had 
not  even  dowry  enough  for  a  convent,  was  such  a 
shame  and  burthen  to  her  as  to  be  almost  a  dis- 
tasteful object.  But  perversely,  as  it  seemed  to  her, 
the  only  daughter  was  the  darling  of  both  father 
and  brother,  who  were  ready  to  do  anything  to 
gratify  the  girl's  sick  fancies,  and  hailed  with 
delight  her  pleasure  in  her  new  attendant.  Old 
Ursel  was  at  first  rather  envious  and  contemptuous 
of  the  childish,  fragile  stranger,  but  her  gentleness 
disarmed  the  old  woman ;  and,  when  it  was  plain 
that  the  young  lady's  sufferings  were  greatly 
lessened  by  tender  care,  dislike  gave  way  to 
attachment,  and  there  was  little  more  murmuring  at 
the  menial  services  that  were  needed  by  the  two 
maidens,  even  when  Ermentrude's  feeble  fancies,  or 
Christinia's  views  of  dainty  propriety,  rendered  them 
more  onerous  than  before.  She  was  even  heard  to 
rejoice  that  some  Christian  care  and  tenderness  had 
at  last  reached  her  poor  neglected  child. 

It  was  well  for  Christina  that  she  had  such  an 
ally.  The  poor  child  never  crept  downstairs  to  the 
dinner  or  supper,  to  fetch  food  for  Ermentrude,  or 
water  for  herself,  without  a  trembling  and  shrinking 
of  heart  and  nerves.  Her  father's  authority  guarded 
her  from  rude  actions,  but  from  rough  tongues  he 
neither  could  nor  would  guard  her,  nor  understand 


64  DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NE8T. 

that  what  to  some  would  have  been  a  compliment 
seemed  to  her  an  alarming  insult ;  and  her  chief 
safeguard  lay  in  her  own  insignificance  and  want  of 
attraction,  and  still  more  in  the  modesty  that  con- 
cealed her  terror  at  rude  jests  sufficiently  to  prevent 
frightening  her  from  becoming  an  entertainment. 
Her  father,  whom  she  looked  on  as  a  cultivated 
person  in  comparison  with  the  rest  of  the  world,  did 
his  best  for  her  after  his  own  views,  and  gradually 
brought  her  aU  the  properties  she  had  left  at  the 
kohler's  hut.  Therewith  she  made  a  great  differ- 
ence in  the  aspect  of  the  chamber,  under  the  full 
sanction  of  the  lords  of  the  castle.  Wolf,  deer,  and 
sheep  skins  abounded ;  and  with  these,  assisted  by 
her  father  and  old  Hatto,  she  tapestried  the  lower 
part  of  the  bare,  grim  walls,  a  great  bear's  hide  cov- 
ered the  neighborhood  of  the  hearth,  and  cushions 
were  made  of  these  skins,  and  stuffed  from  UrseFs 
stores  of  feathers.  All  these  embellishments  were 
watched  with  great  delight  by  Ermentrude,  who 
had  never  been  made  of  so  much  importance,  and 
was  as  much  surprised  as  relieved  by  such  atten- 
tions. She  was  too  young  and  too  delicate  to  reject 
civilization,  and  she  let  Christina  braid  her  hair, 
bathe  her,  and  arrange  her  dress,  with  sensations  of 
comfort  that  were  almost  like  health.  To  train  her 
into  occupying  herself  was,  however,  as  Christina  soon 
found,  in  her  present  state,  impossible.  She  could 
spin  and  sew  a  little,  but  hated  both ;  and  her 
clumsy,  listless  fingers  only  soiled  and  wasted  Chris- 
tina's needles,  silk,  and  lute  strings,  and  such  damage 


"  She  was  too  young  and  too  delicate  to  reject  civilization,  and  she  let 
Christina  braid  her  hair,  bathe  her,  and  arrange  her  dress,  with  sensations  of 
comfort  that  were  almost  like  health."— Page  54. 


DOVE  IN  TEE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  55 

was  not  so  easily  remedied  as  in  the  streets  of  Ulm. 
She  was  best  provided  for  when  looking  on  at  her 
attendant's  busy  hands,  and  asking  to  be  sung  to,  or 
to  hear  tales  of  the  active,  busy  scenes  of  the  city 
life — the  dresses,  fairs,  festivals  and  guild  proces- 
sions. 

The  gentle  nursing  and  the  new  interests  made 
her  improve  in  health,  so  that  her  father  was  de- 
lighted, and  Christina  began  to  hope  for  a  return 
home.  Sometimes  the  two  girls  would  take  the  air, 
either,  on  still  days  upon  the  battlements,  where 
Ermentrude  watched  the  Debatable  Ford,  and  Chris- 
tina gazed  at  the  Danube  and  at  Ulm ;  or  they 
would  find  their  way  to  a  grassy  nook  on  the  moun- 
tain side,  where  Christina  gathered  gentians  and 
saxifrage,  trying  to  teach  her  young  lady  that  they 
were  worth  looking  at,  and  sighing  at  the  thought  of 
Master  Gottfried's  wreath  when  she  met  with  the 
asphodel  seed-vessels.  Once  the  quiet  mule  was 
brought  into  requisition;  and,  with  her  brother 
walking  by  her,  and  Sorel  and  his  daughter  in  atten- 
dance, Ermentrude  rode  toward  the  village  of  Adler- 
stein.  It  Avas  a  collection  of  miserable  huts,  on  a 
sheltered  slope  toward  the  south,  where  there  was 
earth  enough  to  grow  some  wretched  rye  and  buck- 
wheat, subject  to  severe  toll  from  the  lord  of  the 
soil.  Perched  on  a  hollow  rock  above  the  slope  was 
a  rude  little  church,  over  a  cave  where  a  hermit  had 
once  lived  and  died  in  such  odor  of  sanctity  that, 
his  day  happening  to  coincide  with  that  of  St.  John 
the  Baptist,  the  Blessed  Friedmund  had  acquired  the 


56  DO  VE  IN  THE  EA  OLE  '8  NEST. 

acquired  the  credit  of  the  lion's  share  both  of  the 
saint's  honors  and  of  the  old  solstitial  feast  of  mid- 
summer. This  wake  was  the  one  gayety  of  the  year, 
and  attracted  a  fair  which  was  the  sole  occasion  of 
coming  honestly  by  anything  from  the  outer  world  ; 
nor  had  his  cell  ever  lacked  a  professional  anchorite. 

The  freiherr  of  his  day  had  been  a  devout  man, 
who  had  gone  a  pilgrimage  with  Kaiser  Friedrich 
of  the  Ked  Beard,  and  had  brought  home  a  bit  of 
stone  from  the  council  chamber  of  Mcaea,  which  he 
had  presented  to  the  little  church  that  he  had  built 
over  the  cavern.  He  had  named  his  son  Friedmund, 
and  there  were  dim  memories  of  his  days  as  of  a 
golden  age,  before  the  Wildschlossen  had  carried  off 
the  best  of  the  property,  and  when  all  went  well. 

This  was  Christina's  first  sight  of  a  church  since 
her  arrival,  except  that  in  the  chapel,  which  was  a 
^  dismal  neglected  vault,  where  a  ruinous  altar  and 
moldering  crucifix  testified  to  its  sacred  purpose. 
The  old  baron  had  been  excommunicated  for  twenty 
years,  ever  since  he  had  harried  the  wains  of  the 
Bishop  of  Augsburg  on  his  way  to  the  Diet ;  and, 
though  his  household  and  family  were  not  under 
the  same  sentence,  "  Sunday  didna  come  abune  the 
pass."  Christina's  entreaty  obtained  permission  to 
enter  the  little  building,  but  she  had  knelt  there  only 
a  few  moments  before  her  father  came  to  hurry  her 
away,  and  her  supplications  that  he  would  some  day 
take  her  to  mass  there  were  whistled  down  the 
wind ;  and  indeed  the  hermit  was  a  layman,  and 
the  church  was  only  served  on  great  festivals  by  a 


DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST,  5t 

monk  from  the  convent  of  St.  Ruprecht,  on  the  dis- 
tant side  of  the  mountain,  which  was  further  sup- 
posed to  be  in  the  Schlangenwald  interest.  Her 
best  chance  lay  in  infusing  the  desire  into  Ermen- 
trude,  who  by  watching  her  prayers  and  asking  a 
few  questions  had  begun  to  acquire  a  few  clearer 
ideas.  And  what  Ermentrude  wished  had  always 
hitherto  been  acquiesced  in  by  the  two  lords. 

The  elder  baron  came  little  into  Christina's  way. 
He  meant  to  be  kind  to  her,  but  she  was  dreadfully 
afraid  of  him,  and,  when  he  came  to  visit  his  daugh- 
ter, shrank  out  of  his  notice  as  much  as  possible, 
shuddering  most  of  all  at  his  attempts  at  civilities. 
His  son  she  viewed  as  one  of  the  thick  witted  giants 
meant  to  be  food  for  the  heroism  of  good  knights 
of  romance.  Except  that  he  was  fairly  conversant 
with  the  use  of  weapons,  and  had  occasionally  rid- 
den beyond  the  shadow  of  his  own  mountain,  his 
range  was  quite  as  limited  as  his  sister's  ;  and  he 
had  an  equal  scorn  for  all  beyond  it.  His  unfailing 
kindness  to  his  sister  was  however  in  his  favor,  and 
he  always  eagerly  followed  up  any  suggestion  Chris- 
tina made  for  her  pleasure.  Much  of  his  time  was  spent 
on  the  child,  whose  chief  nurse  and  playmate  he 
had  been  throughout  her  malady ;  and  when  she 
showed  him  the  stranger's  arrangements,  or  re- 
peated to  him,  in  a  wondering,  blundering  way, 
with  constant'  appeals  to  her  attendant,  the  new 
tales  she  had  heard,  he  used  to  listen  with  a  pleased 
awkward  amazement  at  his  little  Ermentrude's 
astonishing  cleverness,  joined  sometimes  with  real  in- 


58  i)0  V£J  W  THS!  EA&LE'8  NEST. 

terest,  which  was  evinced  by  his  inquiries  of  Christina. 
He  certainly  did  not  admire  the  little,  slight,  pale 
bower-maiden,  but  he  seemed  to  look  upon  her  like 
some  strange,  almost  uncanny,  wise  spirit  out  of 
some  other  sphere,  and  his  manner  toward  her  had 
none  of  the  offensive  freedom  apparent  in  even  the 
old  man's  patronage.  It  was,  as  Ermentrude  once 
said,  laughing,  alfhost  as  if  he  feared  that  she  might 
do  something  to  him. 

Christina  had  expected  to  see  a  ruffian,  and  had 
found  a  boor ;  but  she  was  to  be  convinced  that  the 
ruffian  existed  in  him.  JSTotice  came  up  to  the  cas- 
tle of  a  convoy  of  wagons,  and  all  was  excitement. 
Men-at-arms  were  mustered,  horses  led  down  the 
Eagle's  Ladder,  and  an  ambush  prepared  in  the 
woods.  The  autumn  rains  were  already  swelling 
the  floods,  and  the  passage  of  the  ford  would  be 
difficult  enough  to  afford  the  assailants  an  easy 
prey. 

The  Freiherrinn  Kunigunde  herself,  and  all  the 
women  of  the  castle,  hurried  into  Ermentrude's 
room  to  enjoy  the  view  from  her  window.  The 
young  lady  herself  was  full  of  eager  expectation, 
but  she  knew  enough  of  her  maiden  to  expect  no 
sympathy  from  her,  and  loved  her  well  enough  not 
to  bring  down  on  her  her  mother's  attention ;  so 
Christina  crept  into  her  turret,  unable  to  withdraw 
her  eyes  from  the  sight,  trembling.  Weeping,  pray- 
ing, longing  for  power  to  give  a  warning  signal. 
Could  they  be  her  own  townsmen  stopped  on  the 
way  to  dear  Ulm? 


DOVE  IN  THE  EAOLE'8  NEST.  59 

She  could  see  the  wagons  in  mid  stream,  the  war- 
riors on  the  bank ;  she  heard  the  triumphant  out- 
cries of  the  mother  and  daughter  in  the  outer  room. 
She  saw  the  overthrow,  the  struggle,  the  flight  of  a 
few  scattered  dark  figures  on  the  farther  side,  the 
drawing  out  of  the  goods  on  the  nearer.  Oh !  were 
those  leaping  waves  bearing  down  any  good  men's 
corpses  to  the  Danube,  slain,  foully  slain  by  her 
own  father  and  this  gang  of  robbers  ? 

She  was  glad  that  Ermentrude  went  down  with 
her  mother  to  watch  the  return  of  the  victors.  She 
crouched  on  the  floor,  sobbing,  shuddering  with  grief 
and  indignation,  and  telling  her  beads  alike  for  mur- 
dered and  murderers,  till,  after  the  sounds  of  wel- 
come and  exultation,  she  heard  Sir  Eberhard's  heavy 
tread,  as  he  carried  his  sister  upstairs.  Ermentrude 
went  up  at  once  to  Christina. 

"  After  all  there  was  little  for  us ! "  she  said.  "  It 
was  only  a  wain  of  wine  barrels  ;  and  now  will  the 
drunkards  downstairs  make  good  cheer.  But  Ebbo 
could  only  win  for  me  this  gold  chain  and  medal 
which  was  round  the  old  merchant's  neck." 

"  "Was  he  slain  ? "  Christina  asked  with  pale  lips. 

"  I  only  know  I  did  not  kill  him,"  returned  the 
baron ;  "  I  had  him  down  and  got  the  prize,  and 
that  was  enough  for  me.  What  the  rest  of  the  fel- 
lows may  have  done,  I  cannot  say." 

"  But  he  has  brought  thee  something,  Stina,"  con- 
tinued Ermentrude.     "  Show  it  to  her  brother." 

"  My  father  sends  you  this  for  your  care  of  my 
sister,"  said  Eberhard,  holding  out  a  brooch  that  had 


60  DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

doubtless  fastened  the  band  of  the  unfortunate 
wine  merchant's  bonnet. 

"Thanks,  sir;  but,  indeed,  I  may  not  take  it," 
said  Christina,  turning  crimson,  and  drawing  back. 

"  So  !  "  he  exclaimed,  in  amaze  ;  then  bethinking 
himself — "  They  are  no  townsfolk  of  yours,  but  Con- 
stance cowards." 

"  Take  it,  take  it,  Stina,  or  you  will  anger  my 
father,"  added  Ermentrude. 

"  l^o,  lady,  I  thank  the  barons  both,  but  it  were 
sin  in  me,"  said  Christina,  with  trembling  voice. 

"  Look  you,"  said  Eberhard ;  "  we  have  the  full 
right — 'tis  a  seignorial  right — to  all  the  goods  of 
every  wayfarer  that  may  be  overthrown  in  our 
river— as  I  am  a  true  knight !  "  he  added  earnestly. 

"  A  true  knight ! "  repeated  Christina,  pushed 
hard,  and  very  indignant  in  all  her  terror.  "  The 
true  knight's  part  is  to  aid,  not  to  rob,  the  weak." 
And  the  dark  eyes  flashed  a  vivid  light. 

"  Christina ! "  exclaimed  Ermentrude  in  the  ex- 
tremity of  her  amazement,  "  know  you  what  you 
have  said  ? — that  Eberhard  is  no  true  knight !  " 

He  meanwhile  stood  silent,  utterly  taken  by  sur- 
prise, and  letting  his  little  sister  fight  his  battles. 

"  I  cannot  help  it.  Lady  Ermentrude,"  said  Chris- 
tina, with  trembling  lips,  and  eyes  filling  Avith  tears. 
"  You  may  drive  me  from  the  castle — I  only  long 
to  be  away  from  it ;  but  I  cannot  stain  my  soul  by 
saying  that  spoil  and  rapine  are  the  deeds  of  a  true 
knight." 

"  My  mother  will  beat  you,"  cried  Ermentrude, 


BO  YE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  fil 

passionately,  ready  to  fly  to  the  head  of  the  stairs ; 
but  her  brother  laid  his  hand  upon  her." 

"  Tush,  Trudchen ;  keep  thy  tongue  still,  child ! 
What  does  it  hurt  me  ?  " 

And  he  turned  on  his  heels  and  went  downstairs. 
Christina  crept  into  her  turret,  weeping  bitterly  and 
with  many  a  wild  thought.  Would  they  visit  her 
offense  on  her  father  ?  Would  they  turn  them  both 
out  together  ?  If  so,  would  not  her  father  hurl  her 
down  the  rocks  rather  than  return  her  to  Ulm  ? 
Could  she  escape  ?  Climb  down  the  dizzy  rocks,  it 
might  be,  succor  the  merchant  lying  half  dead  on 
the  meadows,  protect  and  be  protected,  be  once 
more  among  God-fearing  Christians?  And  as  she 
felt  her  helplessness,  the  selfish  thoughts  passed  into 
a  gush  of  tears  for  the  murdered  man,  lying  suffer- 
ing there,  and  for  his  possible  wife  and  children 
watchiQg  for  him.  Presently  Ermentrude  peeped 
in. 

"  Stina,  Stina,  don't  cry ;  I  will  not  tell  my 
mother  1  Come  out,  and  finish  my  kerchief !  Come 
out !     No  one  shall  beat  you." 

"  That  is  not  what  I  wept  for,  lady,"  said  Chris- 
tina. "  I  do  not  think  you  would  bring  harm  on 
me.  But  oh !  I  would  I  were  at  home  !  I  grieve 
for  the  bloodshed  that  I  must  see  and  may  not  hin- 
der, and  for  that  poor  merchant." 

"  Oh,"  said  Ermentrude,  "  you  need  not  fear  for 
him !  I  saw  his  own  folk  return  and  lift  him  up. 
But  what  is  he  to  thee  or  to  us  ? " 

"  I  am  a  burgher  maid,  lady,"  said  Christina,  re- 


62  DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

covering  herself,  and  aware  that  it  was  of  little  use 
to  bear  testimony  to  such  an  auditor  as  poor  little 
Ermentrude  against  the  deeds  of  her  own  father  and 
brother,  which  had  in  reality  the  sort  of  sanction 
Sir  Eberhard  had  mentioned,  much  akin  to  those 
coast  rights  that  were  the  temptation  of  wreckers. 

Still  she  could  not  but  tremble  at  the  thought  of 
her  speech,  and  went  down  to  supper  in  greater  tre- 
pidation than  usual,  dreading  that  she  should  be 
expected  to  thank  the  freiberr  for  his  gift.  But, 
fortunately,  manners  were  too  rare  at  Adlerstein 
for  any  such  omission  to  be  remarkable,  and  the 
whole  establishment  was  in  a  state  of  noisy  triumph 
and  merriment  over  the  excellence  of  the  French 
wine  they  had  captured,  so  that  she  slipped  into  her 
seat  unobserved. 

Every  available  drinking-horn  and  cup  was  full. 
Ermentrude  was  eagerly  presented  with  draughts  by 
both  father  and  brother,  and  presently  Sir  Eberhard 
exclaimed,  turning  to^vard  the  shrinking  Christina 
with  a  rough  laugh,  "  Maiden,  I  trow  thou  wilt  not 
taste?" 

Christina  shook  her  head,  and  framed  a  negative 
with  her  lips. 

"  What's  this  ? "  asked  her  father,  close  to  whom 
she  sat.     "  Is't  a  fast  day  ? " 

There  was  a  pause.  Many  were  present  who 
regarded  a  fast-day  much  more  than  the  lives  or 
goods  of  their  neighbors.  Christina  again  shook 
her  head. 

"JS'o  matter,"  said  good-natured  Sir  Eberhard, 


DO  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  63 

evidently  wishing  to  avert  any  ill  consequence,  from 
her.      "  'Tis  only  her  loss." 

The  mirth  went  on  rough  and  loud,  and  Christina 
felt  this  the  worst  of  all  the  miserable  meals  she  had 
partaken  of  in  fear  and  trembling  at  this  place  of 
her  captivity.  Ermentrude,  too,  was  soon  in  such  a 
state  of  excitement,  that  not  only  was  Christina's 
womanhood  bitterly  ashamed  and  grieved  for  her, 
but  there  was  serious  danger  that  she  might  at  any 
moment  break  out  with  some  allusion  to  her 
maiden's  recusancy  in  her  reply  to  Sir  Eberhard. 

Presently  however  Ermentrude  laid  down  her 
head  and  began  to  cry — violent  headache  had  come 
on — and  her  brother  took  her  in  his  arms  to  carry 
her  up  the  stairs ;  but  his  potations  had  begun  be- 
fore hers,  and  his  step  was  far  from  steady ;  he 
stumbled  more  than  once  on  the  steps,  shook  and 
frightened  his  sister  and  set  her  down  weeping  petu- 
lantly. And  then  came  a  more  terrible  moment ; 
his  awe  of  Christina.had  passed  away  ;  he  swore  that 
she  was  a  lovely  maiden,  with  only  too  free  a  tongue, 
and  that  a  kiss  must  be  the  seal  of  her  pardon. 

A  house  full  of  intoxicated  men,  no  living  creature 
who  would  care  to  protect  her,  scarce  even  her 
father !  But  extremity  of  terror  gave  her  strength. 
She  spoke  resolutely : 

"Sir  Eberhard,  your  sister  is  ill — ^you  are  in  no 
state  to  be  here.  Go  down  at  once,  nor  insult  a  free 
maiden." 

Probably  the  low-toned  softness  of  the  voice,  so 
utterly  different  from  the  shrill  wrangling  notes  of 


64  DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE' 8  NEST, 

all  the  other  women  he  had  known,  took  him  by 
surprise.  He  was  still  sober  enough  to  be  subdued, 
almost  cowed,  by  resistance  of  a  description  unlike 
all  he  had  ever  seen ;  his  alarm  at  Christina's  superior 
power  returned  in  full  force,  he  staggered  to  the 
stairs,  Christina  rushed  after  him,  closed  the  heavy 
door  with  all  her  force,  fastened  it  inside,  and  would 
have  sunk  down  to  weep  but  for  Ermentrude's  peev- 
ish wail  of  distress. 

Happily  Ermentrude  was  still  a  child,  and,  neg- 
lected as  she  had  been,  she  still  had  had  no  one  to 
make  her  precocious  in  matters  of  this  kind.  She 
was  quite  willing  to  take  Christina's  view  of  the 
case,  and  not  resent  the  exclusion  of  her  brother ; 
indeed,  she  was  unwell  enough  to  dread  the  loudness 
of  his  voice  and  rudeness  of  his  revelry. 

So  the  door  remained  shut,  and  Christina's  resolve 
was  taken  that  she  would  so  keep  it  while  the  wine 
lasted.  And,  indeed,  Ermentrude  had  so  much 
fever  all  that  night  and  the  next  day  that  no  going 
down  could  be  thought  of.  Nobody  came  near  the 
maidens  but  Ursel,  and  she  described  one  continued 
orgie  that  made  Christina  shudder  again  with  fear 
and  disgust.  Those  below  reveled  without  interval, 
except  for  sleep ;  and  they  took  their  sleep  just 
where  they  happened  to  sink  down,  then  returned 
again  to  the  liquor.  The  old  baroness  repaired  to 
the  kitchen  when  the  revelry  went  beyond  even  her 
bearing ;  but  all  the  time  the  wine  held  out,  the 
swine  in  the  court  were,  as  Ursel  averred,  better 
company  than  the  men  in  the  hall.    Yet  there 


DO VE  IN  THE  EAGLE 'S  NEST,  66 

might  have  been  worse  even  than  this ;  for  old  Ursel 
whispered  that  at  the  bottom  of  the  stairs  there  was 
a  trap-door.  Did  the  maiden  know  what  it  covered  ? 
It  was  an  oubhette.  There  was  once  a  Strasburg 
armorer  who  had  refused  ransom,  and  talked  of 
appealing  to  the  kaiser.  He  trod  on  that  door 
and — Ursel  pointed  downwards.  "But  since  that 
time,"  she  said,  "  my  young  lord  has  never  brought 
home  a  prisoner." 

JSTo  wonder  that  all  this  time  Christina  cowered 
at  the  discordant  sounds  below,  trembled,  and 
prayed  while  she  waited  on  her  poor  young  charge, 
who  tossed  and  moaned  in  fever  and  suffering. 
She  was  still  far  from  recovered  when  the  materials 
of  the  debauch  failed,  and  the  household  began  to 
return  to  its  usual  state.  She  was  soon  restlessly 
pining  for  her  brother ;  and  when  her  father  came 
up  to  see  her,  received  him  with  scant  welcome,  and 
entreaties  for  Ebbo.  She  knew  she  should  be 
better  if  she  might  olny  sit  on  his  knee,  and  lay 
her  head  on  his  shoulder.  The  old  freiherr  offered 
to  accommodate  her;  but  she  rejected  him  petu- 
lantly, and  still  called  for  Ebbo,  till  he  went  down, 
promising  that  her  brother  should  come. 

With  a  fluttering  heart  Christina  awaited  the 
noble  whom  she  had  perhaps  insulted,  and  whose 
advances  had  more  certainly  insulted  her.  Would 
he  visit  her  with  his  anger,  or  return  to  that  more 
offensive  familiarity?  She  longed  to  flee  out  of 
sight,  when  after  a  long  interval,  his  heavy  tread 
was  heard ;  but  she  could  not  even  take  refuge  in 


!•  J 


66  DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

her  turret,  for  Ermentrude  was  leaning  against  her. 
Somehow,  the  step  was  less  assured  than  usual ;  he 
absolutely  knocked  at  the  door ;  and,  when  he  came 
in,  he  acknowledged  her  by  a  slight  inclination  of 
the  head.  If  she  only  had  known  it,  this  was  the 
first  time  that  head  had  ever  been  bent  to  any 
being,  human  or  divine ;  but  all  she  did  perceive 
was  that  Sir  Eberhard  was  in  neither  of  the  moods 
she  dreaded,  only  desperately  shy  and  sheepish,  and 
extremely  ashamed,  not  indeed  of  his  excess,  which 
would  have  been,  even  to  a  much  tamer  German 
baron,  only  a  happy  accident,  but  of  what  had 
passed  between  himself  and  her. 

He  was  much  grieved  to  perceive  how  much 
ground  Ermentrude  had  lost,  and  gave  himself  up 
to  fondling  and  comforting  her ;  and  in  a  few  days 
more,  in  their  common  cares  for  the  sister,  Chris- 
tina lost  her  newly-acquired  horror  of  the  brother, 
and  could  not  but  be  grateful  for  his  forbearance ; 
while  she  was  almost  entertained  by  the  increased 
awe  of  herself  shown  by  this  huge  robber  baron. 


DO  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE 'S  NEST.  67 


CHAPTEE   TV. 

SNOW-WREATHS   WHEN   'tIS   THAW. 

Ermentrude  had  by  no  means  recovered  tlie 
ground  she  had  lost,  before  the  winter  set  in ;  and 
blinding  snow  came  drifting  down  day  and  night, 
rendering  the  whole  view,  above  and  below,  one 
expanse  of  white,  only  broken  by  the  peaks  of  rock 
which  were  too  steep  to  sustain  the  snow.  The 
waterfall  lengthened  its  icicles  daily,  and  the  whole 
court  was  heaped  with  snow,  up  even  to  the  top  of 
the  high  steps  to  the  hall ;  and'  thus,  Christina  was 
told,  would  it  continue  all  the  winter.  What  had 
previously  seemed  to  her  a  strangely  door-like  win- 
dow above  the  porch  now  became  the  only  mode  of 
egress,  when  the  barons  went  out  bear  or  wolf- 
hunting,  or  the  younger  took  his  crossbow  and 
hound  to  provide  the  wild-fowl  which,  under  Chris- 
tina's skillful  hands,  would  tempt  the  feeble  ap- 
petite of  Ermentrude  when  she  was  utterly  unable 
to  touch  the  salted  meats  and  sausages  of  the  house- 
hold. 

In  spite  of  all  endeavors  to  guard  the  windows 
and  keep  up  the  fire,  the  cold  withered  the  poor 
child  like  a  fading  leaf,  and  she  needed  more  and 
more  of  tenderness  and  amusement  to  distract  her 


68       DO  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE 'S  NEST. 

attention  from  her  ailments.  Christina's  resources 
were  unfailing.  Out  of  the  softer  pine  and  birch 
woods  provided  for  the  fire,  she  carved  a  set  of 
draughtsmen,  and  made  a  board  by  ruling  squares 
on  the  end  of  a  settle,  and  painting  the  alternate 
ones  with  a  compound  of  oil  and  charcoal.  Even 
the  old  baron  was  delighted  with  this  contrivance, 
and  the  pleasure  it  gave  his  daughter.  He  remem- 
bered playing  at  draughts  in  that  portion  of  his 
youth  which  had  been  a  shade  more  polished,  and 
he  felt  as  if  the  game  were  making  Ermentrude 
more  like  a  lady.  Christina  was  encouraged  to 
proceed  with  a  set  of  chessmen,  and  the  shaping  of 
their  characteristic  heads  under  her  dexterous  fin- 
gers was  watched  by  Ermentrude  like  something 
magical.  Indeed,  the  young  lady  entertained  the 
belief  that  there  was  no  limit  to  her  attendant's 
knowledge  or  capacity. 

Truly  there  was  a  greater  brightness  and  clear- 
ness beginning  to  dawn  even  upon  poor  little  Er- 
mentrude's  own  dull  mind.  She  took  more  interest 
in  everything :  songs  were  not  solely  lullabies,  but 
she  cared  to  talk  them  over;  tales  to  which  she 
would  once  have  been  incapable  of  paying  attention 
were  eagerly  sought  after;  and,  above  all,  the 
spiritual  vacancy  that  her  mind  had  hitherto  pre- 
sented was  beginning  to  be  filled  up.  Christina  had 
brought  her  own  books — a  library  of  extraordinary 
extent  for  a  maiden  of  the  fifteenth  century,  but 
which  she  owed  to  her  uncle's  connection  with  the 
arts  of  wood-cutting  and  printing.     A  Yulgate  from 


DO  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  69 

Dr.  Faustus'  own  press,  a  mass  book  and  breviary, 
Thomas  a  Kempis'  "  Imitation  "  and  the  "  I*^urem- 
burg  Chronicle  "  all  in  Latin,  and  the  poetry  of  the 
gentle  minnesinger  and  bird  lover,  Walther  von 
Yogelweide,  in  the  vernacular:  these  were  her  stock 
which  Hausf ran  Johanna  had  viewed  as  a  foolish  en- 
cmnbrance,  and  Hugh  Sorel  would  never  have 
transported  to  the  castle  unless  they  had  been  so 
well  concealed  in  Christina's  kirtles  that  he  had 
taken  them  for  parts  of  her  wardrobe. 

Most  precious  were  they  now,  when,  out  of  the 
reach  of  all  teaching  save  her  own,  she  had  to  infuse 
into  the  sinking  girl's  mind  the  great  mysteries  of 
life  and  death,  that  so  she  might  not  leave  the  world 
without  more  hope  or  faith  than  her  heathen  fore- 
fathers. For  that  Ermentrude  would  live  Christina 
had  never  hoped,  since  that  fleeting  improvement 
had  been  cut  short  by  the  fever  of  the  wine-cup ; 
the  look,  voice,  and  tone  had  become  so  completely 
the  same  as  those  of  Regina  Grundt's  little  sister 
who  had  pined  and  died.  She  knew  she  could  not 
cure,  but  she  could,  she  felt  she  could,  comfort, 
cheer,  and  soften,  and  she  no  longer  repined  at  her 
enforced  sojourn  at  Adlerstein.  She  heartily  loved 
her  charge,  and  could  not  bear  to  think  how  deso- 
late Ermentrude  would  be  without  her.  And  now 
the  poor  girl  had  become  responsive  to  her  care. 
She  was  infinitely  softened  in  manner,  and  treated 
her  parents  with  forms  of  respect  new  to  them; 
she  had  learned  even  to  thank  old  LTrsel,  dropped 
her  imperious  tone,  and  struggled  with  her  petu- 


70  DOVE  IN  THE  EAQLE'8  NEST, 

lance :  and,  toward  her  brother,  the  domineering, 
uncouth  adherence  was  becoming  real,  tender  af- 
fection ;  while  the  dependent,  reverent  love  she  be- 
stowed upon  Christina  was  touching  and  endearing 
in  the  extreme. 

Freiherr  von  Adlerstein  saw  the  change,  and 
congratulated  himself  on  the  effect  of  having  a 
town-bred  bower  woman ;  nay,  spoke  of  the  advan- 
tage it  would  be  to  his  daughter,  if  he  could  per- 
suade himself  to  make  the  submission  to  the  kaiser 
which  the  late  improvements  decided  on  at  the  Diet 
were  rendering  more  and  more  inevitable.  Now  how 
happy  would  be  the  winner  of  his  gentle  Ermen- 
trude. 

Freiherrinn  von  Adlerstein  thought  the  alter- 
ation the  mere  change  from  child  to  woman,  and 
felt  insulted  by  the  supposition  that  any  one  might 
not  have  been  proud  to  match  with  a  daughter  of 
Adlerstein,  be  she  what  she  might.  As  to  submis- 
sion to  the  kaiser,  that  was  mere  folly  and  weakness 
— kaisers,  kings,  dukes,  and  counts  had  broken  their 
teeth  against  the  rock  of  Adlerstein  before  now ! 
What  had  come  over  her  husband  and  her  son  to 
make  them  cravens  ? 

For  Freiherr  Eberbard  was  more  strongly  con- 
vinced than  was  his  father  of  the  untenableness  of 
their  present  position.  Hugh  Sorel's  reports  of 
what  he  heard  at  Ulm  had  shown  that  the  league 
that  had  been  discussed  at  Eegensburg  was  far  more 
formidable  than  anything  that  had  ever  previously 
threatened  Schloss  Adlerstein,  and  that  if  the  Graf 


DO  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE *S  NEST,  71 

von  Schlangenwald  joined  in  the  coalition,  there 
would  be  private  malice  to  direct  its  efforts  against 
the  Adlerstein  family.  Feud-letters  or  challenges 
had  been  made  unlawful  for  ten  years,  and  was  not 
Adlerstein  at  feud  with  the  world  ? 

Nor  did  Eberhard  look  on  the  submission  with 
the  sullen  rage  and  grief  that  his  father  felt  in 
bringing  himself  to  such  a  declension  from  the 
pride  of  his  ancestors.  What  the  young  baron  heard 
upstairs  was  awakening  in  him  a  sense  of  the  poor- 
ness and  narrowness  of  his  present  life.  Ermentrude 
never  spared  him  what  interested  her ;  and,  partly 
from  her  lips,  partly  through  her  appeals  to  her 
attendant,  he  had  learned  that  life  had  better  things 
to  offer  than  independence  on  these  bare  rocks, 
and  that  homage  might  open  the  way  to  higher 
and  worthier  exploits  than  preying  upon  overturned 
wagons. 

Dietrich  of  Berne  and  his  two  ancestors,  whose 
lengthy  legend  Christina  could  sing  in  a  low,  soft 
recitative,  were  revelations  to  him  of  what  she 
meant  by  a  true  knight — the  lion  in  war,  the  lamb 
in  peace ;  the  quaint,  oft-repeated  portraits,  and  still 
quainter  cities,  of  the  Chronicle,  with  her  explan- 
ations and  translations,  opened  his  mind  to  aspi- 
rations for  intercourse  with  his  fellows,  for  an 
honorable  name,  and  for  esteem  in  its  degree  such 
as  was  paid  to  Sir  Parzival,  to  Karl  the  Great,  or  to 
Rodolf  of  Hapsburgh,  once  a  mountain  lord  like 
himself.  Kay,  as  Ermentrude  said,  stroking  his 
cheek,  and  smoothing  the  flaxen   beard,  that  some- 


72  *  DOVJS  m  THE  JSAGLE'8  NEST, 

how  had  become  much  less  rough  and  tangled  than 
it  used  to  be,  "  Some  day  wilt  thou  be  another  good 
Freiherr  Eberhard,  whom  all  the  country-side  loved, 
and  who  gave  bread  at  the  castle  gate  to  all  that 
hungered." 

Her  brother  believed  nothing  of  her  slow  declen- 
sion in  strength,  ascribing  all  the  change  he  saw  to 
the  bitter  cold,  and  seeing  but  little  even  of  that 
alteration,  though  he  spent  many  hours  in  her  room, 
holding  her  in  his  arms,  amusing  her,  or  talking  to 
her  and  to  Christina.  All  Christina's  fear  of  him 
was  gone.  As  long  as  there  was  no  liquor  in  the 
house,  and  he  was  his  true  self,  she  felt  him  to  be  a 
kind  friend,  bound  to  her  by  strong  sympathy  in  the 
love  and  care  for  his  sister.  She  could  talk  almost 
as  freely  before  him  as  when  alone  with  her  young 
lady ;  and  as  Ermentrude's  religious  feelings  grew 
stronger,  and  were  freely  expressed  to  him,  surely 
his  attention  was  not  merely  kindness  and  patience 
with  the  sufferer. 

The  girl's  soul  ripened  rapidly  under  the  new 
influences  during  her  bodily  decay ;  and,  as  the 
days  lengthened,  and  the  stern  hold  of  Winter 
relaxed  upon  the  mountains,  Christina  looked  with 
strange  admiration  upon  the  expression  that  had 
dawned  upon  the  features  once  so  vacant  and  dull, 
and  listened  with  the  more  depth  of  reverence  to 
the  sweet  words  of  faith,  hope  and  love,  because  she 
felt  that  a  higher,  deeper  teaching  than  she  could 
give  must  have  come  to  mold  the  spirit  for  the  new 
world  to  which  it  was  hastening, 


DOVE  IN  TEE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  73 

"  Like  an  army  defeated, 
The  snow  had  retreated," 

out  of  the  valley,  whose  rich  green  shone  smiling 
round  the  pool  into  which  the  Debatable  Ford  spread. 
The  waterfall  had  burst  its  icy  bonds,  and  dashed 
down  with  redoubled  voice,  roaring  rather  than  bab- 
bling. Blue  and  pink  hepaticas — or,  as  Christina 
called  them,  liver-krauts — had  pushed  up  their  starry 
heads,  and  had  even  been  gathered  by  Sir  Eberhard, 
and  laid  on  his  sister's  pillow.  The  dark  peaks  of 
rock  came  out  all  glistening  with  moisture,  and  the 
snow  only  retained  possession  of  the  deep  hollows 
and  crevices,  into  which,  however,  its  retreat  was  far 
more  graceful  than  when,  in  the  city,  it  was  trodden 
by  horse  and  man,  and  soiled  with  smoke. 

Christina  dreaded  indeed  that  the  roads  should  be 
open,  but  she  could  not  love  the  snow  ;  it  spoke  to 
her  of  dreariness,  savagery  and  captivity,  and  she 
watched  the  dwindling  stripes  with  satisfaction,  and 
hailed  the  fall  of  the  petty  avalanches  from  one 
Eagle's  Step  to  another  as  her  forefathers  might 
have  rejoiced  in  the  defeat  of  the  frost  giants. 

But  Ermentrude  had  a  love  for  the  white  sheet 
that  lay  covering  a  gorge  running  up  from  the 
ravine.  She  watched  its  diminution  day  by  day 
with  a  fancy  that  she  was  melting  away  with  it ; 
and  indeed  it  was  on  the  very  day  that  a  succession 
of  drifting  showers  had  left  the  sheet  alone,  and 
separated  it  from  the  masses  of  white  above,  that  it 
first  fully  dawned  upon  the  rest  of  the  family  that, 
for  the  little   daughter  of  the  house,  spring  was 


74  I>0  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

only  bringing  langour  and  sinking  instead  of  recov- 
ery. 

Then  it  was  that  Sir  Eberhard  first  really  listened 
to  her  entreaty  that  she  might  not  die  without  a 
priest,  and  comforted  her  by  passing  his  word  to  her 
that,  if — ^he  would  not  say  when — the  time  drew 
near,  he  would  bring  her  one  of  the  priests  who  had 
only  come  from  St.  Ruprecht's  cloister  on  great 
days  by  a  sort  of  sufferance,  to  say  mass  at  the 
Blessed  Friedmund's  hermitage  chapel. 

The  time  was  slow  in  coming.  Easter  had  passed 
with  Ermentrude  far  too  ill  for  Christina  to  make 
the  effort  she  had  intended  of  going  to  the 
church,  even  if  she  could  get  no  escort  but  old  Ursel 
— the  sheet  of  snow  had  dwindled  to  a  mere  wreath 
— ^the  ford  looked  blue  in  the  sunshine — the  cascade 
tinkled  merrily  down  its  rock — mountain  primroses 
peeped  out,  when,  as  Father  E'orbert  came  forth 
from  saying  his  ill-attended  Pentecostal  mass,  and 
was  parting  with  the  infirm  peasant  hermit,  a  tall 
figure  strode  up  the  pass,  and,  as  the  villagers  fell 
back  to  make  way,  stood  before  the  startled  priest, 
and  said,  in  a  voice  choked  with  grief,  "  Come  with 
me." 

''  Who  needs  me  ? "  began  the  astonished  monk. 

*'  Follow  him  not,  father  !  "  whispered  the  hermit. 
"  It  is  the  young  freiherr.  Oh,  have  mercy  on  him, 
gracious  sir ;  he  has  done  your  noble  lordships  no 
wrong." 

"  I  mean  him  no  ill,"  replied  Eberhard,  clearing 
his  voice  with  difficulty  ;  "  I  would  but  have  him  do 
his  office.    Art  thou  afraid,  priest  ? " 


DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  75 

"  Who  needs  my  office  ? "  demanded  Father 
!N'orbert.  "  Show  me  fit  cause,  and  what  should  I 
dread  ?     Wherefore  dost  thou  seek  me  ?  " 

"  For  my  sister,"  replied  Eberhard,  his  voice 
thickening  again.  "  My  little  sister  lies  at  the  point 
of  death,  and  I  have  sworn  to  her  that  a  priest  she 
shall  have.  Wilt  thou  come,  or  shall  I  drag  thee 
down  the  pass  ? " 

"  I  come,  I  come  with  all  my  heart,  sir  knight," 
was  the  ready  response.  "  A  few  moments  and  I 
am  at  your  bidding." 

He  stepped  back  into  the  hermit's  cave,  whence  a 
stair  led  up  to  the  chapel.  The  anchorite  followed 
him,  whispering — "  Good  father,  escape  !  There 
will  be  full  time  ere  he  misses  you.  The  north  door 
leads  to  the  Gemsbock's  Pass ;  it  is  open  now." 

"  Why  should  I  balk  him  ?  Why  should  I  deny 
my  office  to  the  dying  ? "  said  IN'orbert. 

"  Alas  !  holy  father,  thou  art  new  to  this  country, 
and  know'st  not  these  men  of  blood  ?  It  is  a  snare 
to  make  the  convent  ransom  thee,  if  not  worse.  The 
freiherrinn  is  a  fiend  for  malice,  and  the  freiherr  is 
excommunicate. ' ' 

"  I  know  it,  my  son,"  said  Norbert ;  "  but  where- 
fore should  their  child  perish  unassoilzied  ?  " 

"  Art  coming,  priest  ? "  shouted  Eberhard,  from 
his  stand  at  the  mouth  of  the  cave. 

And,  as  Norbert  at  once  appeared  with  the  pyx 
and  other  appliances  that  he  had  gone  to  fetch,  the 
freiherr  held  out  his  hand  with  an  offer  to  "  carry 
his  gear  for  him ; "  and,  when  the  monk  refused, 


76  DOVE  m  THE  EA QLE 'S  NEST. 

with  an  inward  shudder  at  entrusting  a  sacred 
charge  to  such  unhallowed  hands,  replied  :  "  You 
will  have  work  enow  for  both  hands  ere  the  castle  is 
reached." 

But  Father  Norbert  was  by  birth  a  sturdy  Switzer, 
and  thought  little  of  these  Swabian  Alps ;  and  he 
climbed  after  his  guide  through  the  most  rugged 
passages  of  Eberhard's  shortest  and  most  perpen- 
dicular cut  without  a  moment's  hesitation,  and  with 
agility  worthy  of  a  chamois.  The  young  baron 
turned  for  a  moment,  when  the  level  of  the  castle 
had  been  gained,  perhaps  to  see  whether  he  were 
following,  but  at  the  same  time  came  to  a  sudden, 
speechless  pause. 

On  the  white  masses  of  vapor  that  floated  on  the 
opposite  side  of  the  mountain  was  traced  a  gigantic 
shadowy  outline  of  the  hermit,  with  head  bent 
eagerly  forward,  and  arm  outstretched. 

The  monk  crossed  himself.  Eberhard  stood  still 
for  a  moment,  and  then  said,  hoarsely :  "  The 
Blessed  Friedmund !  He  is  come  for  her ; "  then 
strode  on  toward  the  postern  gate,  followed  by 
Brother  ]N"orbert,  a  good  deal  reassured  both  as  to 
the  genuineness  of  the  young  baron's  message  and 
the  probable  condition  of  the  object  of  his  journey, 
since  the  patron  saint  of  her  race  was  evidently  on 
the  watch  to  speed  her  departing  spirit. 

Sir  Eberhard  led  the  way  up  the  turret  stairs  to 
the  open  door,  and  the  monk  entered  the  death- 
chamber.  The  elder  baron  sat  near  the  fire  in  the 
large  wooden  chair,  half  turned  toward  his  daugh- 


DO  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NE8T.  77 

ter,  as  one  who  must  needs  be  present,  but  with,  his 
face  buried  in  his  hands,  unable  to  endure  the  spec- 
tacle. l!^earer  was  the  tall  form  of  his  wife,  stand- 
ing near  the  foot  of  the  bed,  her  stern,  harsh 
features  somewhat  softened  by  the  feelings  of  the 
moment.  Ursel  waited  at  hand,  with  tears  running 
down  her  furrowed  cheeks. 

For  such  as  these  Father  I^orbert  was  prepared  ; 
but  he  little  expected  to  meet  so  pure  and  sweet  a 
gaze  of  reverential  welcome  as  beamed  on  him  from 
the  soft,  dark  eyes  of  the  little  white-cheeked  maiden 
who  sat  on  the  bed,  holding  the  sufferer  in  her 
arms.  Still  less  had  he  anticipated  the  serene 
blessedness  that  sat  on  the  wasted  features  of  the 
dying  girl,  amid  all  the  anguish  of  laboring  breath. 

She  smiled  a  smile  of  joy,  held  up  her  hand,  and 
thanked  her  brother.  Her  father  scarcely  lifted  his 
head,  her  mother  made  a  rigid  courtesy,  and  with  a 
grim  look  of  sorrow  coming  over  her  features,  laid 
her  hand  over  the  old  baron's  shoulder.  "  Come 
away,  Herr  Yater,"  she  said ;  he  is  going  to  hear 
her  confession,  and  make  her  too  holy  for  the  like 
of  us  to  touch." 

The  old  man  rose  up,  and  stepped  toward  his 
child.  Ermentrude  held  out  her  arms  to  him,  and 
murmured  : 

"  Father,  father,  pardon  me  ;  I  would  have  been  a 

better  daughter  if  I  had  only  known "     He 

gathered  her  in  his  arms  ;  he  was  quite  past  speak- 
ing ;  and  they  only  heard  his  heavy  breathing,  and 
one  more  whisper  from  Ermentrude — "  And  oh ! 


78  lyo  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

father,  one  day  wilt  thou  seek  to  be  absolved  ? " 
Whether  he  answered  or  not  they  knew  not ;  he  only 
gave  her  repeated  kisses,  and  laid  her  down  on  her 
pillows,  then  rushed  to  the  door,  and  the  passionate 
sobs  of  the  strong  man's  uncontrolled  nature  might 
be  heard  upon  the  stair.  The  parting  with  the 
others  was  not  necessarily  so  complete,  as  they 
were  not,  like  him,  under  censure  of  the  church; 
but  Kunigunde  leaAed  down  to  kiss  her ;  and,  in  re- 
turn to  her  repetition  of  her  entreaty  for  pardon, 
replied :  "  Thou  hast  it,  child,  if  it  will  ease  thy 
mind ;  but  it  is  all  along  of  these  new  fancies  that 
ever  an  Adlerstein  thought  of  pardon.  There,  there, 
I  blame  thee  not,  poor  maid ;  if  thou  wert  to  die,  it 
may  be  even  best  as  it  is.  IS'ow  must  I  to  thy 
father ;  he  is  troubled  enough  about  this  gear." 

But  w^ien  Eberhard  moved  toAvard  his  sister,  she 
turned  to  the  priest,  and  said,  imploringly:  "  Not  far, 
not  far !  Oh  !  let  them,"  pointing  to  Eberhard  and 
Christina,  "  let  them  not  be  quite  out  of  sight ! " 

"  Out  of  hearing  is  all  that  is  needed,  daughter," 
replied  the  priest ;  and  Ermentrude  looked  content 
as  Christina  moved  toward  the  empty  north  turret, 
where,  with  the  door  open,  she  was  in  full  \4ew,  and 
Eberhard  followed  her  thither.  It  was  indeed  fully 
out  of  earshot  of  the  child's  faint,  gasping  confession. 
Gravely  and  sadly  both  stood  there.  Christina 
looked  up  the  hillside  for  the  snow-wreath.  The 
May  sunshine  had  dissolved  it ;  the  green  pass  lay 
sparkling  without  a  vestige  of  its  white  coating. 
Her  eyes  fuU  of  tears,  she  pointed  the  spot  out  to 


DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  79 

Eberhard.  He  understood ;  but,  leaning  toward 
her,  told,  under  his  breath,  of  the  phantom  he  had 
seen.  Her  eyes  expanded  with  awe  of  the  super- 
natural. "It  was  the  Blessed  Friedmund,"  said 
Eberhard.  "  IS'ever  hath  he  so  greeted  one  of  our 
race  since  the  pious  Freiherrinn  Hildegarde.  Maiden, 
hast  thou  brought  us  back  a  blessing  ?  " 

"Ah!  well  may  she  be  blessed — well  may  the 
saints  stoop  to  greet  her,"  murmured  Christina,  with 
strangled  voice,  scarcely  able  to  control  her  sobs. 

Father  Norbert  came  toward  them.  The  simple 
confession  had  been  heard,  and  he  sought  the  aid  of 
Christina  in  performing  the  last  rites  of  the  church. 

'^  Maiden,"  he  said  to  her,  "  thou  hast  done  a  great 
and  blessed  work,  such  as  many  a  priest  might  envy 
thee." 

Eberhard  was  not  excluded  during  the  final  serv- 
ices by  which  the  soul  was  to  be  dismissed  from  its 
earthly  dwelling-place.  True,  he  comprehended  lit- 
tle of  their  import,  and  nothing  of  the  words,  but 
he  gazed  meekly,  with  uncovered  head,  and  a  bewil- 
dered look  of  sadness,  while  Christina  made  her 
responses  and  took  her  part  w4th  full  intelligence 
and  deep  fervor,  sorrowing  indeed  for  the  compan- 
ion who  had  become  so  dear  to  her,  but  deeply 
thankful  for  the  spiritual  consolation  that  had  come 
at  last.  Ermentrude  lay  calm,  and,  as  it  were, 
already  rapt  into  a  higher  world,  lighting  up  at  the 
German  portions  of  the  service,  and  not  wholly  de- 
void of  comprehension  of  the  spirit  even  of  the 
Latin,  as  indeed  she  had  come  to  the  border  of  the 


80  DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE' 8  NEST. 

region  where  human  tongues  and  languages  are  no 
more. 

She  was  all  but  gone  when  the  right  of  extreme 
unction  was  completed,  and  they  could  only  stand 
round  her,  Eberhard,  Christina,  Ursel,  and  the  old 
baroness,  who  had  returned  again,  watching  the  last 
flutterings  of  the  breath,  the  window  thrown  wide 
open  that  nothing  might  impede  the  passage  of  the 
soul  to  the  blue  vault  above. 

The  priest  spoke  the  beautiful  commendation, 
"Depart,  O  Christian  soul."  There  was  a  faint 
gesture  in  the  midst  for  Christina  to  lift  her  in  her 
arms — a  sign  to  bend  down  and  kiss  her  brow — ^but 
her  last  look  was  for  her  brother,  her  last  murmuer, 
"  Come  after  me ;  be  the  good  baron,  Ebbo." 


dovje:  ij^  tee  eaqle's  nest.  %i 


CHAPTEE  Y. 

THE    YOUNG   FKEIHEKR. 

Ekmentrude  von  Adlerstein  slept  with  her  fore- 
fathers in  the  vaults  of  the  hermitage  chapel,  and 
Christina  Sorel's  work  was  done. 

Surely  it  was  time  for  her  to  return  home,  though 
she  should  be  more  sorry  to  leave  the  mountain  cas- 
tle than  she  could  ever  have  believed  possible.  She 
entreated  her  father  to  take  her  home,  but  she  re- 
ceived a  sharp  answer  that  she  did  not  know  what 
she  was  talking  of:  the  Schlangenwald  reitern 
were  besetting  all  the  roads ;  and  moreover  the  Ulm 
burghers  had  taken  the  capture  of  the  Constance 
wine  in  such  dudgeon  that  for  a  retainer  of  Adler- 
stein to  show  himself  in  the  streets  would  be  an  ab- 
solute asking  for  the  wheel. 

But  was  there  any  hope  for  her  ?  Could  he  not 
take  her  to  some  nunnery  midway,  and  let  her  write 
to  her  uncle  to  fetch  her  from  thence  ? 

He  swore  at  woman's  pertinacity,  but  allowed  at 
last  that  if  the  plan,  talked  of  by  the  barons,  of 
going  to  make  their  submission  to  the  emperor  at 
Linz,  with  a  view  to  which  all  violence  at  the  ford 
had  ceased,  should  hold  good,  it  might  be  possible 
thus  to  drop  her  on  their  way. 


82  DO  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

"With  this  Christina  must  needs  content  herself 
Poor  child,  not  only  had  Ermentrude's  death 
deprived  her  of  the  sole  object  of  her  residence  at 
Schloss  Adlerstein,  but  it  had  infinitely  increased 
the  difficulties  of  her  position.  ]^o  one  interfered 
with  her  possession  of  the  upper  room  and  its  tur- 
rets ;  and  it  was  only  at  meal  times  that  she  was 
obliged  to  mingle  with  the  other  inhabitants,  who, 
for  the  most  part,  absolutely  overlooked  the  little, 
shrinking,  pale  maiden :  but  with  one  exception, 
and  that  the  most  perplexing  of  all.  She  had  been 
on  terms  with  Freiherr  Eberhard  that  were  not  so 
easily  broken  off  as  if  she  had  been  an  old  woman 
of  Ursel's  age.  All  through  his  sister's  decline  she 
had  been  his  comforter,  assistant,  director,  hving  in 
intercourse  and  sympathy  that  ought  surely  to  cease 
when  she  was  no  longer  his  sister's  attendant,  yet 
which  must  be  more  than  ever  missed  in  the  full 
freshness  of  the  stroke. 

Even  on  the  earliest  day  of  bereavement,  a  sud- 
den thought  of  Hausfrau  Johanna  flashed  upon 
Christina,  and  reminded  her  of  the  guard  she  must 
keep  over  herself  if  she  would  return  to  Ulm  the 
same  modest  girl  whom  her  aunt  could  acquit  of  all 
indiscretion.  Her  cheeks  flamed,  as  she  sat  alone, 
with  the  very  thought,  and  the  next  time  she  heard 
the  well-known  tread  on  the  stair,  she  fled  hastily 
into  her  own  turret  chamber,  and  shut  the  door. 
Her  heart  beat  fast.  She  could  hear  Sir  Eberhard 
moving  about  the  room,  and  hstened  to  his  heavy 
sigh  as  he  threw  himself  into  the  large  chair.    Pres- 


BO  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  83 

ently  he  called  her  by  name,  and  she  felt  it  needful 
to  open  her  door  and  answer  respectfully. 

"  What  would  you,  my  lord  ? " 

"  What  would  I  ?  A  little  peace,  and  heed  to  her 
who  is  gone.  To  see  my  father  and  mother  one 
would  think  that  a  partridge  had  but  flown  away. 
I  have  seen  my  father  more  sorrowful  when  his  dog 
had  fallen  over  the  abyss." 

"  Mayhap  there  is  more  sorrow  for  a  brute  that 
cannot  live  again,"  said  Christina.  "  Our  bird  has 
her  nest  by  an  altar  that  is  lovelier  and  brighter  than 
even  our  Dome  Kirk  will  ever  be." 

"  Sit  down,  Christina,"  he  said,  dragging  a  chair 
nearer  the  hearth.  "  My  heart  is  sore,  and  I  cannot 
bear  the  din  below.  Tell  me  where  my  bird  is 
flown." 

"  Ah  !  sir ;  pardon  me.  I  must  to  the  kitchen," 
said  Christina,  crossing  her  hands  over  her  breast, 
to  still  her  trembhng  heart,  for  she  was  very  sorry 
for  his  grief,  but  moving  resolutely. 

"  Must  ?  And  wherefore  ?  Thou  hast  nought  to 
do  there ;  speak  truth  !  Why  not  stay  with  me  ? " 
and  his  great  light  eyes  opened  wide. 

"  A  burgher  maid  may  not  sit  down  with  a  noble 
baron." 

"  The  devil !  Has  my  mother  been  plaguing  thee, 
child?" 

"  N^o,  my  lord,"  said  Christina,  "  she  recks  not  of 
me ;  but " — steadying  her  voice  with  great  difficulty 
— "  it  behoves  me  the  more  to  be  discreet." 

"  And  you  would  not  have  me  come  here !  "  he 
said,  with  a  wistful  tone  of  reproach. 


84  1^0  YE  IN  TEE  EAGLE'8  NEST. 

"  I  have  no  power  to  forbid  you ;  but  if  you  do,  I 
must  betake  me  to  Ursel  in  the  kitchen,"  said  Chris- 
tina, very  low,  trembling  and  half  choked. 

"Among  the  rude  wenches  there ! "  he  cried,  start- 
ing up.  "  ^ay,  nay,  that  shall  not  be !  Kather  will 
I  go.  But  this  is  very  cruel  of  thee,  maiden,"  he 
added,  lingering,  "  when  I  give  thee  my  knightly 
word  that  all  shall  be  as  when  she  whom  we  both 
loved  was  here,"  and  his  voice  shook. 

"  It  could  not  so  be,  my  lord,"  returned  Christina, 
with  drooping,  blushing  face;  "it  would  not  be 
maidenly  in  me.  Oh,  my  lord,  you  are  kind  and 
generous,  make  it  not  hard  for  me  to  do  what  other 
maidens  less  lonely  have  friends  to  do  for  them ! " 

"Kind  and  generous?"  said  Eberhard,  leaning 
over  the  back  of  the  chair,  as  if  trying  to  begin  a 
fresh  score.  "  This  from  you,  who  told  me  once  I 
was  no  true  knight ! " 

"  I  shall  call  you  a  true  knight  with  all  my  heart," 
cried  Christina,  the  tears  rushing  into  her  eyes,  "  if 
yoa  will  respect  my  weakness  and  loneliness." 

He  stood  up  again,  as  if  to  move  away ;  then 
paused,  and,  twisting  his  gold  chain,  said:  "And  how 
am  I  ever  to  be  what  the  happy  one  bade  me,  if  you 
will  not  show  me  how  ? " 

"  My  error  would  never  show  you  the  right,"  said 
Christina,  with  a  strong  effort  at  firmness,  and  re- 
treating at  once  through  the  door  of  the  staircase, 
whence  she  made  her  way  to  the  kitchen,  and  with 
great  difficulty  found  an  excuse  for  her  presence 
there. 


DO  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE  '8  NE8T.  85 

It  had  been  a  hard  struggle  with  her  compassion 
and  gratitude,  and  poor,  little  Christina  felt  with 
dismay,  with  something  more  than  these.  Else  why 
was  it  that,  even  while  principle  and  better  sense 
summoned  her  back  to  Ulm,  she  experienced  a  deadly 
weariness  of  the  city-pent  air,  of  the  grave,  heavy 
roll  of  the  river,  nay,  even  of  the  quiet,  well-regu- 
lated household  ?  Why  did  such  a  marriage  as  she 
had  thought  her  natural  destiny,  with  some  worthy, 
kind-hearted  brother  of  the  guild,  become  so  hateful 
to  her  that  she  could  only  aspire  to  a  convent  life  ? 
This  same  burgomaster  would  be  an  estimable  man, 
no  doubt,  and  those  around  her  were  ruffians,  but 
she  felt  utterly  contemptuous  and  impatient  of  him. 
And  why  was  the  interchange  of  greetings,  the  few 
words  at  meals,  worth  all  the  rest  of  the  day  besides 
to  her  ?  Her  own  heart  was  the  traitor,  and  to  her 
own  sensations  the  poor  little  thing  had,  in  spirit  at 
least,  transgressed  all  Aunt  Johanna's  precepts 
against  young  barons.  She  wept  apart,  and  resolved, 
and  prayed,  cruelly  ashamed  of  every  start  of  joy 
or  pain  that  the  sight  of  Eberhard  cost  her  From 
almost  the  first  he  had  sat  next  her  at  the  single 
table  that  accommodated  the  whole  household  at 
meals,  and  the  custom  continued,  though  on  some 
days  he  treated  her  with  sullen  silence,  which  she 
blamed  herself  for  not  rejoicing  in,  sometimes  he 
spoke  a  few  friendly  words ;  but  he  observed,  better 
than  she  could  have  dared  to  expect,  her  test  of  his 
true  knighthood,  and  never  again  forced  himself 
into  her  apartment,  though  now  and  then  he  came 


86  DO  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST, 

to  the  door  with  flowers,  with  mountain  straw- 
berries, and  once  with  two  young  doves.  "Take 
them,  Christina,"  he  said,  "they  are  very  like 
yourself  ; "  and  he  always  delayed  so  long  that  she 
was  forced  to  be  resolute,  and  shut  the  door  on  him 
at  last. 

Once,  when  there  was  to  be  a  mass  at  the  chapel, 
Hugh  Sorel,  between  a  smile  and  a  growl,  informed 
his  daughter  that  he  would  take  her  thereto.  She 
gladly  prepared,  and,  bent  on  making  herself  agree- 
able to  her  father,  did  not  once  press  on  him  the 
necessity  of  her  return  to  Ulm.  To  her  amazement 
and  pleasure,  the  young  baron  was  at  church,  and 
when  on  the  way  home,  he  walked  beside  her  mule, 
she  could  see  no  need  of  sending  him  away. 

He  had  been  in  no  school  of  the  conventionalities 
of  life,  and,  when  he  saw  that  Hugh  Sorel's  presence 
had  obtained  him  this  favor,  he    wistfully  asked: 

"  Christina,  if  I  bring  your  father  with  me,  will 
you  not  let  me  in  ? " 

"  Entreat  me  not,  my  lord,"  she  answered,  with 
fluttering  breath. 

She  felt  the  more  that  she  was  right  in  this 
decision,  when  she  encountered  her  father's  broad 
grin  of  surprise  and  diversion,  at  seeing  the  young 
baron  helping  her  to  dismount.  It  was  a  look  of 
receiving  an  idea  both  new,  comical,  and  flattering, 
but  by  no  means  the  look  of  a  father  who  would 
resent  the  indignity  of  attentions  to  his  daughter 
from  a  man  whose  rank  formed  an  insuperable 
barrier  to  marriage. 


DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NE8T.  Hi 

The  effect  was  a  new,  urgent,  and  most  piteous 
entreaty,  that  he  would  find  means  of  sending  her 
home.  It  brought  upon  her  the  hearing  put  into 
words  what  her  own  feelings  had  long  shrunk  from 
confessing  to  herself. 

"Ah!  Why,  what  now?  What,  is  the  young 
baron  after  thee  ?  Ha !  ha !  petticoats  are  few 
enough  up  here,  but  he  must  have  been  ill  off  ere  he 
took  to  a  little  ghost  like  thee !  I  saw  he  was 
moping  and  doleful,  but  I  thought  it  was  all  for  his 
sister." 

"  And  so  it  is,  father." 

"  Tell  me  that,  when  he  watches  every  turn  of 
that  dark  eye  of  thine — the  only  good  thing  thou 
took'st  of  mine !     Thou  art  a  witch,  Stina." 

"  Hush,  oh  hush,  for  pity's  sake,  father,  and  let  me 
go  home ! " 

"  What,  thou  likest  him  not  ?  Thy  mind  is  all  for 
the  mincing  goldsmith  opposite,  as  I  ever  told 
thee." 

"  My  mind  is — is  to  return  to  my  uncle  and  aunt 
the  true-hearted  maiden  they  parted  with,"  said 
Christina,  with  clasped  hands.  "  And  oh,  father,  as 
you  were  the  son  of  a  true  and  faithful  mother,  be  a 
father  to  me  now !  Jeer  not  your  motherless  child, 
but  protect  her  and  help  her." 

Hugh  Sorel  was  touched  by  this  appeal,  and  he 
likewise  recollected  how  much  it  was  for  his  own 
interest  that  his  brother  should  be  satisfied  with  the 
care  he  took  of  his  daughter.  He  became  convinced 
that  the  sooner  she  was  out  of  the  castle  the  better. 


S8  DOVE  m  THE  EA GLE 'S  NEST. 

and  at  length  bethought  him  that,  among  the  mer- 
chants who  frequented  the  Midsummer  Fair  at  the 
Blessed  Friedmund's  Wake,  a  safe  escort  might  be 
found  to  convey  her  back  to  Ulm. 

If  the  truth  were  known,  Hugh  Sorel  was  not 
devoid  of  a  certain  feeling  akin  to  contempt,  both 
for  his  young  master's  taste,  and  for  his  forbearance 
in  not  having  pushed  matters  further  with  a  being 
so  helpless,  meek,  and  timid  as  Christina,  more 
especially  as  such  slackness  had  not  been  his  wont 
in  other  cases  where  his  fancy  had  been  caught. 

But  Sorel  did  not  understand  that  it  was  not 
physical  beauty  that  here  had  been  the  attraction, 
though  to  some  persons,  the  sweet  pensive  eyes,  the 
delicate,  pure  skin,  the  slight,  tender  form,  might 
seem  to  exceed  in  loveliness  the  fully  developed 
animal  comeliness  chiefly  esteemed  at  Adlerstein. 
It  was  rather  the  strangeness  of  the  power  and 
purity  of  this  timid,  fragile  creature,  that  had  struck 
the  young  noble.  With  all  their  brutal  manners 
reverence  for  a  lofty  female  nature  had  been  in  the 
German  character  ever  since  their  Yelleda  proph- 
esied to  them,  and  this  reverence  in  Eberhard 
bowed  at  the  feet  of  the  pure  gentle  maiden,  so 
strong  yet  so  weak,  so  wistful  and  entreating  even 
in  her  resolution,  refined  as  a  white  flower  on  a  heap 
of  refuse,  wise  and  dextrous  beyond  his  slow  and 
dull  conception,  and  the  first  being  in  whom  he  had 
ever  seen  piety  or  goodness ;  and  likewise  with  a 
tender,  loving  spirit  of  consolation  such  as  he  had 
both  beheld  and  tasted  by  his  sister's  deathbed. 


DO  YE  IN  THE  EAGLE 'S  NEST.  89 

There  was  almost  a  fear  mingled  with  his  rever- 
ence. If  he  had  been  more  familiar  with  the  saints, 
he  would  thus  have  regarded  the  holy  virgin  mar- 
tyrs, nay,  even  Our  Lady  herself ;  and  he  durst  not 
push  her  so  hard  as  to  offend  her,  and  excite  the 
anger  or  the  grief  that  he  alike  dreaded.  He  was 
wretched  and  forlorn  without  the  resources  he  had 
found  in  his  sister's  room  ;  the  new  and  better  crav- 
ings of  his  higher  nature  had  been  excited  only  to 
remain  unsupplied  and  disappointed ;  and  the  affec- 
tionate heart  in  the  freshness  of  its  sorrow  yearned 
for  the  comfort  that  such  conversation  had  supplied : 
but  the  impression  that  had  been  made  on  him  was 
still  such,  that  he  knew  that  to  use  rough  means  of 
pressing  his  wishes  would  no  more  lead  to  his  real 
gratification  than  it  would  to  appropriate  a  snow- 
bell  by  crushing  it  in  his  gauntlet. 

And  it  was  on  feeble  little  Christina,  yielding  in 
heart,  though  not  in  will,  that  it  depended  to  pre- 
serve this  reverence,  and  return  unscathed  from  this 
castle,  more  perilous  now  than  ever. 


90  I>0  YE  IN  THE  EAGLE* JS  NEBf. 


CHAPTER  YI. 


MiDSUMMEK-DAY  arrived,  and  the  village  of  Adler- 
stein  presented  a  most  unusual  spectacle.  The  wake 
was  the  occasion  of  a  grand  fair  for  all  the  moun- 
tain-side, and  it  was  an  understood  thing  that  the 
barons,  instead  of  molesting  the  peddlers,  merchants, 
and  others  who  attended  it,  contented  themselves 
with  demanding  a  toll  from  every  one  who  passed 
the  kohler's  hut  on  the  one  side,  or  the  Gemsbock's 
Pass  on  the  other ;  and  this  toll,  being  the  only  coin 
by  which  they  came  honestly  in  the  course  of  the 
year,  was  regarded  as  a  certainty  and  highly  valued. 
Moreover,  it  was  the  only  time  that  any  purchases 
could  be  made,  and  the  flotsam  of  the  ford  did  not 
always  include  all  even  of  the  few  requirements  of 
the  inmates  of  the  castle  ;  it  was  the  only  holiday, 
sacred  or  secular,  that  ever  gladdened  the  Eagle's 
Rock. 

So  all  the  inmates  of  the  castle  prepared  to  enjoy 
themselves,  except  the  heads  of  the  house.  The 
freiherr  had  never  been  at  one  of  these  wakes  since 
the  first  after  he  was  excommunicated,  when  he  had 
stalked  round  to  show  his  indifference  to  the  sen- 
tence ;  and  the  f reiherrinn  snarled  out  such  sentences 


DOVE  m  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  91 

of  disdain  toward  the  concourse,  that  it  might  be 
supposed  that  she  hated  the  sight  of  her  kind ;  but 
Ursel  had  all  the  household  purchases  to  make,  and 
the  kitchen  underlings  were  to  take  turns  to  go  and 
come,  as  indeed  were  the  men-at-arms,  who  were  set 
to  watch  the  toll-bars. 

Christina  had  packed  up  a  small  bundle,  for  the 
chance  of  being  unable  to  return  to  the  castle  with- 
out missing  her  escort,  though  she  hoped  that  the 
fair  might  last  two  days,  and  that  she  should  thus 
be  enabled  to  return  and  bring  away  the  rest  of  her 
property.  She  was  more  and  more  resolved  on  going, 
but  her  heart  was  less  and  less  inclined  to  departure. 
And  bitter  had  been  her  weeping  through  all  the 
early  light  hours  of  the  long  morning — weeping  that 
she  tried  to  think  was  all  for  Ermentrude  ;  and  all, 
amid  prayers  she  could  scarce  trust  herself  to  offer, 
that  the  generous,  kindly  nature  might  yet  work 
free  of  these  evil  surroundings,  and  fulfill  the  sister's 
dying  wish.  She  should  never  see  it ;  but,  when 
she  should  hear  that  the  Debatable  Ford  was  the 
Friendly  Ford,  then  would  she  know  that  it  was 
the  doing  of  the  good  Baron  Ebbo.  Could  she  venture 
on  telling  him  so  ?  Or  were  it  not  better  that  there 
were  no  farewell  ?  And  she  wept  again  that  he 
should  think  her  ungrateful.  She  could  not  per- 
suade herself  to  release  the  doves,  but  committed 
the  charge  to  Ursel  to  let  them  go  in  case  she  should 
not  return. 

So  tear-stained  was  her  face,  that,  ashamed  that 
it  should  be  seen,  she  wrapped  it  closely  in  her  hood 


92  DO  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

and  veil  when  she  came  down  and  joined  her  father. 
The  whole  scene  swam  in  tears  before  her  eyes 
when  she  saw  the  whole  green  slope  from  the  chapel 
covered  with  tents  and  booths  and  swarming  with 
peddlers  and  mountaineers  in  their  picturesque 
dresses.  Women  and  girls  were  exchanging  the 
yarn  of  their  winter's  spinning  for  bright  handker- 
chiefs ;  men  drove  sheep,  goats  or  pigs  to  barter  for 
knives,  spades  or  weapons ;  others  were  gazing  at 
simple  shows — a  dancing  bear  or  ape — or  clustering 
round  a  minnesinger ;  many  even  then  congregating 
in  booths  for  the  sale  of  beer.  Further  up,  on  the 
flat  space  of  sward  above  the  chapel,  were  some  lay 
brothers,  arranging  for  the  representation  of  a 
mystery — a  kind  of  entertainment  which  Germany 
owed  to  the  English  who  came  to  the  council  of 
Constance,  and  which  the  monks  of  St.  Kuprecht's 
hoped  might  infuse  some  religious  notions  into  the 
wild,  ignorant  mountaineers. 

First  however  Christina  gladly  entered  the 
church.  Crowded  though  it  were,  it  was  calmer 
than  the  busy  scene  without.  Faded  old  tapestry 
was  decking  its  w^alls,  representing  apparently  some 
subject  entirely  alien  to  St.  John  or  the  blessed  her- 
mit; Christina  rather  thought  it  was  Mars  and 
Yenus,  but  that  was  all  the  same  to  every  one  else. 
And  there  was  a  terrible  figure  of  St.  John,  painted 
life-like,  with  a  •  real  hair-cloth  round  his  loins,  just 
opposite  to  her,  on  the  step  of  the  altar ;  also  poor 
Friedmund's  bones,  dressed  up  in  a  new  serge  amice 
and  hood ;  the  stone  from  Nicaea  was  in  a  gilded 


DO  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  93 

box,  ready  in  due  time  to  be  kissed ;  and  a  preaching 
friar  (not  one  of  the  monks  of  St.  Ruprecht's)  was 
in  the  midst  of  a  sermon,  telling  how  St.  John  pre- 
sided at  the  Council  of  Mcsea  till  the  Emperor  Maxi- 
mus  cut  off  his  head  at  the  instance  of  Herodius — 
full  justice  being  done  to  the  dancing — and  that  the 
blood  was  sprinkled  on  this  very  stone,  whereupon 
our  holy  father  the  pope  decreed  that  whoever 
would  kiss  the  said  stone,  and  repeat  the  Credo  five 
times  afterward,  should  be  capable  of  receiving  an 
indulgence  for  five  hundred  years:  which  indul- 
gence must  however  be  purchased  at  the  rate  of  six 
groschen,  to  be  bestowed  in  alms  at  Eome.  And 
this  inestimable  benefit  he,  poor  Friar  Peter,  had 
come  from  his  brotherhood  of  St.  Francis  at  Offingen 
solely  to  dispense  to  the  poor  mountaineers. 

It  was  disappointing  to  find  this  profane  mum- 
mery going  on  instead  of  the  holy  services  to  which 
Christina  had  looked  forward  for  strength  and  com- 
fort; she  was  far  too  well  instructed  not  to  be 
scandalized  at  the  profane  deception  which  was 
ripening  fast  for  Luther,  only  thirty  years  later ; 
and,  when  the  stone  was  held  up  by  the  friar  in  one 
hand,  the  printed  briefs  of  indulgence  in  the  other, 
she  shrunk  back.  Her  father  however  said,  ''  Wilt 
have  one,  child?  Five  hundred  years  is  no  bad 
bargain." 

"  My  uncle  has  small  trust  in  indulgences,"  she 
whispered. 

"  All  lies,  of  course,"  quoth  Hugh ;  "  yet  they've 
the  pope's  seal,  and  I  have  more  than  half  a  mind 


94  BO  YE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

to  get  one.  Five  hundred  years  is  no  joke,  and  I  am 
sure  of  purgatory,  since  I  bought  this  medal  at  the 
Holy  House  of  Loretto." 

And  he  went  forward  and  inve&ted  six  groschen 
in  one  of  the  papers,  the  most  religious  action  poor 
Christina  had  ever  seen  him  perform.  Other  pur- 
chasers came  forward — several  of  the  castle  hnwppen, 
and  a  few  peasant  women  who  offered  yarn  or 
cheeses  as  equivalents  for  money,  but  were  told  with 
some  insolence  to  go  and  sell  their  goods  and  bring 
the  coin. 

After  a  time,  the  friar,  finding  his  traffic  slack, 
thought  fit  to  remove,  with  his  two  lay  assistants, 
outside  the  chapel  and  try  the  effects  of  an  out-of- 
door  sermon.  Hugh  Sorel,  who  had  been  hitherto 
rather  diverted  by  the  man's  gestures  and  persua- 
sions, now  decided  on  going  out  into  the  fair  in 
quest  of  an  escort  for  his  daughter,  but  as  she 
saw  Father  l^orbert  and  another  monk  ascending 
from  the  stairs  leading  to  the  hermit's  cell,  she 
begged  to  be  allowed  to  remain  in  the  church,  where 
she  was  sure  to  be  safe,  instead  of  wandering  about 
with  him  in  the  fair. 

He  was  glad  to  be  unencumbered,  though  he 
thought  her  taste  unnatural ;  and,  promising  to 
return  for  her  when  he  had  found  an  escort,  he  left 
her. 

Father  J^orbert  had  come  for  the  very  purpose  of 
hearing  confessions,  and  Christina's  next  hour  was 
the  most  comfortable  she  had  spent  since  Ermen- 
trude's  death. 


DO  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  95 

After  this  however,  the  priests  were  called  away, 
and  long,  long  did  Christina  first  kneel  and  then 
sit  in  the  little  lonely  church,  hearing  the  various 
sounds  without,  and  imagining  that  her  father  had 
forgotten  her,  and  that  he  and  all  the  rest  were  drink- 
ing, and  then  what  would  become  of  her  ?  "Why  had 
she  quitted  old  Ursel's  protection  ? 

Hours  of  waiting  and  nameless  alarm  must  have 
passed,  for  the  sun  was  waxing  low,  when  at  length 
she  heard  steps  coming  up  the  hermit's  cell,  and  a 
head  rose  above  the  pavement  which  she  recognized 
with  a  wild  throb  of  joy,  but,  repressing  her  sense 
of  gladness,  she  only  exclaimed,  "  Oh,  where  is  mj 
father !  '" 

"  I  have  sent  him  to  the  toll  at  the  Gemsbock's 
Pass,"  replied  Sir  Eberhard,  who  had  by  this  time 
come  up  the  stairs,  followed  by  Brother  Peter  and 
the  two  lay  assistants.  Then,  as  Christina  turned 
on  him  her  startled,  terrified  eyes  in  dismay  and 
reproach  for  such  thoughtlessness,  he  came  toward 
her,  and,  bending  his  head  and  opening  his  hand, 
he  showed  on  his  palm  two  gold  rings.  "  There, 
little  one,"  he  said ;  "  now  shalt  thou  never  again 
shut  me  out." 

Her  senses  grew  dizzy.  "  Sir,"  she  faintly  said, 
"  this  is  no  place  to  delude  a  poor  maiden." 

"  I  delude  thee  not.  The  brother  here  waits  to  wed 
us." 

"  Impossible !  A  burgher  maid  is  not  for  such  as 
you." 

"  None  but  a  burgher  maid  will  I  wed,"  returned 


96  DOVE  IN  TEE  EA GLE '8  NEST. 

Sir  Eberhard,  with  all  the  settled  resolution  of 
habits  of  command.  "See,  Christina  thou  art 
sweeter  and  better  than  any  lady  in  the  land ;  thou 
canst  make  me  what  she — the  blessed  one  who  lies 
there — would  have  me.  I  love  thee  as  never  knight 
loved  lady.  I  love  thee  so  that  I  have  not  spoken  a 
word  to  offend  thee  when  my  heart  was  bursting ; 
and  " — as  he  saw  her  irrepressible  tears — "  I  think 
thou  lovest  me  a  little." 

"  Ah,"  she  gasped  with  a  sob,  "  let  me  go." 

"  Thou  canst  not  go  home ;  there  is  none  here  fit 
to  take  charge  of  thee.  Or  if  there  were,  I  would 
slay  him  rather  than  let  thee  go.  No,  not  so,"  he 
said,  as  he  saw  how  little  those  words  served  his 
cause ;  "  but  without  thee  I  were  a  mad  and 
desperate  man.  Christina,  I  will  not  answer  for 
myself  if  thou  dost  not  leave  this  place  my  wedded 
wife." 

"  Oh,"  implored  Christina,  "  if  you  would  only 
betroth  me,  and  woo  me  like  an  honorable  maiden 
from  my  home  at  Ulm !  " 

"  Betroth  thee,  ay,  and  wed  thee  at  once,"  replied 
Eberhard,  who,  all  along,  even  while  his  words 
were  most  pleading,  had  worn  a  look  and  manner  of 
determined  authority  and  strength,  good-natured  in- 
deed, but  resolved.  "  I  am  not  going  to  miss  my 
opportunity,  or  balk  the  friar." 

The  friar,  who  had  meantime  been  making  a 
few  needful  arrangments  for  the  ceremony,  ad- 
vanced toward  them.  He  was  a  good-humored, 
easy-going  man,  who  came  prepared  to  do    any 


DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  97 

office  that  came  in  his  way  on  such  festival  days  at 
the  villages  round ;  and  peasant  marriages  at  such 
times  were  not  uncommon.  But  something  now 
staggered  him,  and  he  said  anxiously  : 

"  This  maiden  looks  convent-bred !  Herr  Reiter 
pardon  me ;  but  if  this  be  the  breaking  of  a  cloister, 
I  can  have  none  of  it." 

" ]N"o  such  thing,"  said  Eberhard ;  "she  is  town- 
bred,  that  is  all." 

"  You  would  swear  to  it,  on  the  holy  mass  yonder, 
both  of  you  ? "  said  the  friar,  still  suspiciously. 

"Yea,"  replied  Eberhard,  "and  so  dost  thou, 
Christina." 

This  was  the  time  if  ever  to  struggle  against  her 
destiny.  The  friar  would  probably  have  listened  to 
her  if  she  had  made  any  vehement  opposition  to  a 
forced  marriage,  and  if  not,  a  few  shrieks  would  have 
brought  perhaps  Father  ^N'orbert,  and  certainly  the 
whole  population;  but  the  horror  and  shame  of 
being  found  in  such  a  situation,  even  more  than  the 
probability  that  she  might  meet  with  vengeance 
rather  than  protection,  withheld  her.  Even  the 
friar  could  hardly  have  removed  her,  and  this  was 
her  only  chance  of  safety  from  the  baroness'  fury. 
Had  she  hated  and  loathed  Sir  Eberhard,  perhaps  she 
had  striven,  harder,  but  his  whole  demeanor  con- 
strained and  quelled  her,  and  the  chief  eifort  she 
made  against  yielding  was  the  reply,  "  I  am  no 
cloister  maid,  holy  father,  but " 

The  "  but "  was  lost  in  the  friar's  jovial  speech. 
"  Oh,  then,  all  is  well !     Take  thy  place,  pretty  one, 


98  DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

there,  by  the  door,  thou  know'st  it  should  be  in  the 
porch,  but — ach,  I  understand !  "  as  Eberhard  quietly 
drew  the  bolt  within.  "  No,  no,  little  one,  I  have 
no  time  for  bride  scruples  and  coyness ;  I  have  to 
train  three  dull-headed  louts  to  be  Shem,  Ham,  and 
Japhet  before  dark.     Hast  confessed  of  late  ? " 

"This    morning,   but "  said    Christina,   and 

"  This  morning,"  to  her  great  joy,  said  Eberhard, 

and,  in  her  satisfaction  thereat,  her  second  "  but " 

was  not  followed  up. 

The  friar  asked  their  names,  and  both  gave  the 
Christian  name  alone ;  then  the  brief  and  simple  rite 
was  solemnized  in  its  shortest  form.  Christina  had, 
by  very  force  of  surprise  and  dismay,  gone  through 
all  without  signs  of  agitation,  except  the  quivering 
of  her  whole  frame,  and  the  icy  coldness  of  the 
hand,  where  Eberhard  had  to  place  the  ring  on  each 
finger  in  turn. 

But  each  mutual  vow  was  a  strange  relief  to  her 
long-tossed  and  divided  mind,  and  it  was  rest  indeed 
to  let  her  affection  have  its  will,  and  own  him  indeed 
as  a  protector  to  be  loved  instead  of  shunned. 
When  all  was  over,  and  he  gathered  the  two  little 
cold  hands  into  his  large  one,  his  arm  supporting 
her  trembling  form,  she  felt  for  the  moment,  poor 
little  thing,  as  if  she  could  never  be  frightened 
again. 

Parish  registers  were  not,  even  had  this  been  a 
parish  church,  but  Brother  Peter  asked,  when  he 
had  concluded,  "  Well,  my  son,  which  of  his  flock 
am  I  to  report  to  your  pf  arrer  as  linked  together  ? " 


DOVJ£  IN  TEE  EAGLE'S  NEST,  99 

"  The  less  your  tongue  wags  on  that  matter  till  I 
call  on  you,  the  better,"  was  the  stern  reply.  "  Look 
you,  no  ill  shall  befall  you  if  you  are  wise,  but  re- 
member, against  the  day  I  call  you  to  bear  witness, 
that  you  have  this  day  wedded  Baron  Eberhard  von 
Adlerstein  the  younger,  to  Christina,  the  daughter 
of  Hugh  Sorel,  the  Esquire  of  Ulm." 

"  Thou  hast  played  me  a  trick.  Sir  Baron !  "  said 
the  friar,  somewhat  dismayed,  but  more  amused, 
looking  up  at  Eberhard,  who,  as  Christina  now  saw, 
had  divested  himself  of  his  gilt  spurs,  gold  chain, 
silvered  belt  and  horn,  and  eagle's  plume,  so  as  to 
have  passed  for  a  simple  lanzknecht.  "I  would 
have  had  no  such  gear  as  this  !  " 

"  So  I  supposed,"  said  Eberhard  coolly. 

"  Young  folks  !  young  folks  ! "  laughed  the  friar, 
changing  his  tone,  and  holding  up  his  finger  slyly  ; 
"  the  little  bird  so  cunningly  nestled  in  the  church 
to  fly  out  my  lady  baroness !  Well,  so  thou  hast  a 
pretty,  timid  lambkin  there.  Sir  Baron.  Take  care 
you  use  her  mildly." 

Eberhard  looked  into  Christina's  face  with  a  smUe, 
that  to  her,  at  least,  was  answer  enough ;  and  he  held 
out  half  a  dozen  links  of  his  gold  chain  to  the  friar, 
and  tossed  a  coin  to  each  of  the  lay  brethren. 

"  Not  for  the  poor  friar  himself,"  explained 
Brother  Peter,  on  receiving  this  marriage  fee ;  "  it 
all  goes  to  the  weal  of  the  brotherhood." 

"  As  you  please,"  said  Eberhard.  "  Silence,  that 
is  all !     And  thy  friary " 

"  The  poor  house  of  St.  Francis  at  Offingen  for  the 


100  DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

present,  noble  sir,"  said  the  priest.  "  There  will 
you  hear  of  me,  if  you  find  me  not.  And  now,  fare 
thee  well,  my  gracious  lady.  I  hope  one  day  thou 
wilt  have  more  words  to  thank  the  poor  brother 
who  has  made  thee  a  noble  baroness." 

"  Ah,  good  father,  pardon  my  fright  and  confu- 
sion," Christina  tried  to  murmur,  but  at  that 
moment  a  sudden  glow  and  glare  of  light  broke  out 
on  the  eastern  rock,  illuminating  the  fast  darkening 
little  church  with  a  flickering  glare  that  made  her 
start  in  terror  as  if  the  fires  of  heaven  were  threat- 
ening this  stolen  marriage ;  but  the  friar  and 
Eberhard  both  exclaimed,  "The  needfire  alight 
already ! "  And  she  recollected  how  often  she  had 
seen  these  bonfires  on  midsummer  night  shining  red 
on  every  hill  around  Ulm.  Loud  shouts  were 
greeting  the  uprising  flame,  and  the  people  gather- 
ing thicker  and  thicker  on  the  slope.  The  friar  un- 
did the  door  to  hasten  out  into  the  throng,  and 
Eberhard  said  he  had  left  his  spurs  and  belt  in  the 
hermit's  cell,  and  must  return  thither,  after  which 
he  would  walk  home  with  his  bride,  moving  at  the 
same  time  toward  the  stair,  and  thereby  causing  a 
sudden  scuffle  and  fall.  "  So,  master  hermit,"  quoth 
Eberhard,  as  the  old  man  picked  himself  up,  look- 
ing horribly  frightened ;  "  that's  your  hermit's  ab- 
straction, is  it  ?  ISTo  whining,  old  man,  I  am  not 
going  to  hurt  thee,  so  thou  canst  hold  thy  tongue. 
Othermse  1  will  smote  thee  out  of  thy  hole  like  a 
wild  cat !  What,  thou  aiding  me  with  my  belt,  my 
lovely  one  \    Thanks ;  the  snap  goes  too  hard  for 


LOVE  IN  THB''.WA0JbJt'8ilfmXr\  \  '  i  \  Ml 

thy  little  hands,    l^ow,  then,  the  fire  will  light  us 
gayly  down  the  mountain  side." 

But  it  soon  appeared  that  to  -depart  was  impossi- 
ble, unless  by  forcing  a  way  through  the  busy  throng 
in  the  full  red  glare  of  the  firehght,  and  they  were 
forced  to  pause  at  the  opening  of  the  hermit's  cave, 
Christina  leaning  on  her  husband's  arm,  and  a  fold 
of  his  mantle  drawn  round  her  to  guard  her  from 
the  night-breeze  of  the  mountain,  as  they  waited 
for  a  quiet  space  in  which  to  depart  unnoticed.  It 
was  a  strange,  wild  scene  !  The  fire  was  on  a  bare, 
flat  rock,  which  probably  had  been  yearly  so  em- 
ployed ever  since  the  Kelts  had  brought  from  the 
east  the  rite  that  they  had  handed  on  to  the  Swab- 
ians — the  beltane  fire,  whose  like  was  blazing  every- 
where in  the  Alps,  in  the  Hartz,  nay,  even  in  Eng- 
land, Scotland,  and  on  the  granite  points  of  Ireland. 
Heaped  up  for  many  previous  days  with  faggots 
from  the  forest,  then  apparently  inexhaustible,  the 
fire  roared  and  crackled,  and  rose  high,  red  and 
smoky,  into  the  air,  paling  the  moon,  and  obscuring 
the  stars.  Round  it,  completely  hiding  the  bonfire 
itself,  were  hosts  of  dark  figures  swarming  to  ap- 
proach it — all  with  a  purpose.  All  held  old  shoes 
or  superannuated  garments  in  their  hands  to  feed 
the  flame ;  for  it  was  esteemed  needful  that  every 
villager  should  contribute  something  from  his  house 
— once,  no  doubt,  as  an  offering  to  Bel,  but  now  as 
a  mere  unmeaning  observance.  And  shrieks  of 
merriment  foUowed  the  contribution  of  each  too 
weU-known  article  of  rubbish  that  had  been  in  re- 


l^k:  /'  :  y]S)pY0IJMTliE^  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

serve  for  the  needfire !  Girls  and  boys  had  nuts  to 
throw  in,  in  pairs,  to  judge  by  their  bounces  of 
future  chances  of  matrimony.  Then  came  a  shout- 
ing, tittering,  and  falling  back,  as  an  old  boor  came 
forward  like  a  priest  with  something,  heavy  and 
ghastly  in  his  arms,  which  was  thrown  on  with  a 
tremendous  shout,  darkened  the  glow  for  a  moment, 
then  hissed,  cracked,  and  emitted  a  horrible 
odor. 

It  was  a  horse's  head,  the  right  owner  of  which 
had  been  carefully  kept  for  the  occasion,  though 
long  past  work.  Christina  shuddered,  and  felt  as  if 
she  had  fallen  upon  a  pagan  ceremony ;  as  indeed 
was  true  enough,  only  that  the  Adlersteiners 
attached  no  meaning  to  the  performance,  except  a 
vague  notion  of  securing  good  luck. 

Witli  the  same  idea  the  faggots  were  pulled  down, 
and  arranged  so  as  to  form  a  sort  of  lane  of  fire. 
Young  men  rushed  along  it,  and  then  bounded  over 
the  diminished  pile,  amid  loud  shouts  of  laughter 
and  either  admiration  or  derision ;  and,  in  the 
meantime,  a  variety  of  odd,  recusant  noises,  grunts, 
squeaks,  and  lo wings  proceeding  from  the  darkness 
were  explained  to  the  startled  little  bride  by  her 
husband  to  come  from  all  the  cattle  of  the  moun- 
tain farms  around,  who  were  to  have  their  weal 
secured  by  being  driven  through  the  needfire. 

It  may  weU  be  imagined  that  the  animals  were 
less  convinced  of  the  necessity  of  this  performance 
than  their  masters.  "Wonderful  was  the  clatter  and 
confusion,  horrible  the  uproar  raised  behind  to  make 


DOVE  m  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  103 

the  poor  things  proceed  at  all,  desperate  the  shout 
when  some  half -frantic  creature  kicked  or  attempted 
a  charge,  wild  the  glee  when  a  persecuted  goat  or 
sheep  took  heart  of  grace,  and  flashed  for  one 
moment  between  the  crackling,  flaring,  smoking 
walls.  When  one  cow  or  sheep  off  a  farm  went,  all 
the  others  were  pretty  sure  to  follow  it,  and  the 
owner  had  then  only  to  be  on  the  watch  at  the 
other  end  to  turn  them  back,  with  their  flame-daz- 
zled eyes,  from  going  unawares  down  the  precipice, 
a  fate  from  which  the  passing  through  the  fire  was 
evidently  not  supposed  to  ensure  them.  The  swine, 
those  special  German  delights,  were  of  course  the 
most  refractory  of  all.  Some,  by  dint  of  being 
pulled  away  from  the  lane  of  fire,  were  induced  to 
rush  through  it ;  but  about  half-way  they  generally 
made  a  bolt,  either  side-long  through  the  flaming 
fence  or  backward  among  the  legs  of  their  persecu- 
tors, who  were  upset  amid  loud  imprecations.  One 
huge,  old,  lean,  high-backed  sow,  with  a  large  family, 
truly  feminine  in  her  want  of  presence  of  mind, 
actually  charged  into  the  midst  of  the  bonfire  itself, 
scattering  it  to  the  right  and  left  with  her  snout, 
and  emitting  so  horrible  a  smell  of  singed  bacon, 
that  it  might  almost  be  feared  that  some  of  her 
progeny  were  anticipating  the  Chinese  invention 
of  roasting-pigs.  However,  their  proprietor,  Jobst, 
counted  them  out  all  safe  on  the  other  side,  and 
there  only  resulted  some  sighs  and  lamentations 
among  the  seniors,  such  as  Hatto  and  Ursel,  that  it 
boded  ill  to  have  the  needfire  trodden  out  by  an  old 
sow. 


104  I>0  YE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NB8T. 

All  the  castle  live-stock  were  undergoing  the 
same  ceremony.  Eberhard  concerned  himself  little 
about  the  vagaries  of  the  sheep  and  pigs,  and  only 
laughed  a  little  as  the  great  black  goat,  who  had 
seen  several  midsummer  nights,  and  stood  on  his 
guard,  made  a  sudden  short  run  and  butted  doAvn 
old  Hatto,  then  skipped  off  like  a  chamois  into  the 
darkness,  unheeding,  the  old  rogue,  the  whispers 
that  connected  his  unlucky  hue  with  the  doings  of 
the  Walpurgisnacht.  But  when  it  came  to  the 
horses,  Eberhard  could  not  well  endure  the  sight  of 
the  endeavors  to  force  them,  snorting,  rearing  and 
struggling,  through  anything  so  abhorrent  to  them 
as  the  hedge  of  fire. 

The  schneiderlein,  with  all  the  force  of  his  power- 
ful arm,  had  hold  of  Eberhard' s  own  young  white 
mare,  who,  with  ears  turned  back,  nostrils  dilated, 
and  wild  eyes,  her  fore-feet  firmly  planted  wide 
apart,  was  using  her  whole  strength  for  resistance ; 
and,  when  a  heavy  blow  fell  on  her,  only  plunged 
backward,  and  kicked  without  advancing.  It  was 
more  than  Eberhard  could  endure,  and  Christina's 
impulse  was  to  murmur,  "  O  do  not  let  hun  do  it ; " 
but  this  he  scarcely  heard,  as  he  exclaimed,  "  Wait 
for  me  here  ! "  and,  as  he  stepped  forward,  sent  his 
voice  before  him,  forbidding  all  blows  to  the  mare. 

The  creature's  extreme  terror  ceased  at  once  upon 
hearing  his  voice,  and  there  was  an  instant  relax- 
ation of  all  violence  of  resistance  as  he  came  up  to 
her,  took  her  halter  from  the  schneiderlein,  patted 
her  glossy  neck,  and  spoke  to  her.     But  the  tumult 


DO  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  105 

of  warning  voices  around  him  assured  him  that  it 
would  be  a  fatal  thing  to  spare  the  steed  the  pas- 
sage through  the  fire,  and  he  strove  by  encourage- 
ments and  caresses  with  voice  and  hand  to  get  her 
forward,  leading  her  himself ;  but  the  poor  beast 
trembled  so  violently,  and,  though  making  a  few 
steps  forward,  stopped  again  in  such  exceeding 
horror  of  the  flame,  that  Eberhard  had  not  the 
heart  to  compel  her,  turned  her  head  away,  and 
assured  her  that  she  should  not  be  further  tor- 
mented. 

"  The  gracious  lordship  is  wrong,"  said  public 
opinion,  by  the  voice  of  old  Bauer  TJlrich,  the  sacri- 
ficer  of  the  horse's  head.  "  Heaven  forfend  that 
evil  befall  him  and  that  mare  in  the  course  of  the 
year."  ^ 

And  the  buzz  of  voices  concurred  in  telling  of  the 
recusant  pigs  who  had  never  developed  into  sau- 
sages, the  sheep  who  had  only  escaped  to  be  eaten 
by  wolves,  the  mule  whose  bones  had  been  found  at 
the  bottom  of  an  abyss. 

Old  Ursel  was  seriously  concerned,  and  would 
have  laid  hold  on  her  young  master  to  remonstrate, 
but  a  fresh  notion  had  arisen — would  the  gracious 
freiherr  set  a-rolling  the  wheel,  which  was  already 
being  lighted  in  the  fire,  and  was  to  conclude  the 
festivities  by  being  propelled  down  the  hill — figur- 
ing, only  that  no  one  present  knew  it,  the  sun's 
declension  from  his  solstitial  height.  Eberhard 
made  no  objection  ;  and  Christina,  in  her  shelter  by 
the  cave,  felt  no  little  dismay  at  being  left  alone 


106  DO  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE' 8  NEST. 

there,  and  moreover  had  a  strange,  weird  feeling  at 
the  wild,  uncanny  ceremony  he  was  engaged  in,  not 
knowing  indeed  that  it  was  sun-worship,  but  afraid 
that  it  could  be  no  other  than  unholy  sorcery. 

The  wheel,  flaring  or  reddening  in  all  its  spokes, 
was  raised  from  the  bonfire,  and  was  driven  down 
the  smoothest  piece  of  greensward,  which  formed 
an  inclined  plane  toward  the  stream.  If  its  course 
was  smooth,  and  it  only  became  extinguished  by 
leaping  into  the  water,  the  village  would  flourish ; 
and  prosperity  above  all  was  expected  if  it  should 
spring  over  the  narrow  channel,  and  attempt  to  run 
up  the  other  side.  Such  things  had  happened  in  the 
days  of  the  good  Freiherren  Ebbo  and  Friedel, 
though  the  wheel  had  never  gone  right  since  the 
present  baron  had  been  excommunicated ;  but  his 
heir  having  been  twice  seen  at  mass  in  this  last 
month,  great  hopes  were  founded  upon  him. 

There  was  a  shout  to  clear  the  slope.  Eberhard, 
in  great  earnest  and  some  anxiety,  accepted  the 
gauntlet  that-  he  was  offered  to  protect  his  hand, 
steadied  the  wheel  therewith,  and,  with  a  vigorous 
impulse  from  hand  and  foot,  sent  it  bounding  down 
the  slope,  among  loud  cries  and  a  general  scattering 
of  the  idlers  who  had  crowded  full  into  the  very 
path  of  the  fiery  circle,  which  flamed  up  brilliantly 
for  the  moment  as  it  met  the  current  of  air.  But 
either  there  was  an  obstacle  in  the  way,  or  the 
young  baron's  push  had  not  been  quite  straight: 
the  wheel  suddenly  swerved  aside,  its  course  swerved 
to  the  right,  maugre  all  the  objurgations  addressed 


DOVE  m  THE  EAGLETS  NEST.  107 

to  it  as  if  it  had  been  a  living  thing,  and  the  next 
moment  it  had  disappeared,  all  but  a  smoky,  smoul- 
dering spot  of  red,  that  told  where  it  lay,  charring 
and  smoking  on  its  side,  without  having  fulfilled  a 
quarter  of  its  course. 

People  drew  off  gravely  and  silently,  and  Eber- 
hard  himself  was  strangely  discomfited  when  he 
came  back  to  the  hermitage,  and,  wrapping  Chris- 
tina in  his  cloak,  prepared  to  return  so  soon  as  the 
glare  of  the  fire  should  have  faded  from  his  eye- 
sight enough  to  make  it  safe  to  tread  so  precipitous 
a  path.  He  had  indeed  this  day  made  a  dangerous 
venture,  and  both  he  and  Christina  could  not  but 
feel  disheartened  by  the  issue  of  all  the  omens  of 
the  year,  the  more  because  she  had  a  vague  sense  of 
wrong  in  consulting  or  trusting  them.  It  seemed 
to  her  all  one  frightened,  uncomprehended  dream 
ever  since  her  father  had  left  her  in  the  chapel; 
and  though  conscious  of  her  inability  to  have  pre- 
vented her  marriage,  yet  she  blamed  herself,  felt 
despairing  as  she  thought  of  the  future,  and,  above 
all,  dreaded  the  baron  and  the  baroness  and  their 
anger.  Eberhard,  after  his  first  few  words,  was 
silent,  and  seemed  solely  absorbed  in  leading  her 
safely  along  the  rocky  path,  sometimes  lifting  her 
when  he  thought  her  in  danger  of  stumbling.  It 
was  one  of  the  lightest,  shortest  nights  of  the  year, 
and  a  young  moon  added  to  the  brightness  in  open 
places,  while  in  others  it  made  the  rocks  and  stones 
cast  strange,  elvish  shadows.  The  distance  was  not 
entirely  lost ;  other  Beltane  fires  could  be  seen,  like 


108  DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST, 

beacons,  on  every  hill,  and  the  few  lights  in  the 
castle  shone  out  like  red  fiery  eyes  in  its  heavy  dark 
pile  of  building. 

Before  entering,  Eberhard  paused,  pulled  off  his 
own  wedding-ring  and  put  it  into  his  bosom,  and 
taking  his  bride's  hand  in  his,  did  the  same  for  her, 
and  bade  her  keep  the  ring  till  they  could  wear 
them  openly. 

"Alas!  then,"  said  Christina,  "you  would  have 
this  secret  ? " 

"Unless  I  would  have  to  seek  thee  down  the 
oubliette,  my  little  one,"  said  Eberhard ;  "  or,  what 
might  even  be  worse,  see  thee  burned  on  the  hillside 
for  bewitching  me  with  thine  arts !  JS'o,  indeed,  my 
darling.  Were  it  only  my  father,  I  could  make 
him  love  thee ;  but  my  mother — I  could  not  trust 
her  where  she  thought  the  honor  of -our  house  con- 
cerned. It  shall  not  be  for  long.  Thou  know'st 
we  are  to  make  peace  with  the  kaiser,  and  then 
will  I  get  me  employment  among  Ktirfurst  Al- 
brecht's  companies  of  troops,  and  then  shalt  thou 
prank  it  as  my  lady  freiherrinn,  and  teach  me  the 
ways  of  cities." 

"Alas !  I  fear  me  it  has  been  a  great  sin! "  sighed 
the  poor  little  wife. 

"For  thee — thou  couldst  not  help  it,"  said  Eber- 
hard ;  "  for  me — who  knows  how  many  deadly  ones 
it  may  hinder  ?  Cheer  up,  little  one ;  no  one  can 
harm  thee  while  the  secret  is  kept." 

Poor  Christina  had  no  choice  but  submission  ;  but 
it  was  a  sorry  bridal  evening,  to  enter  her  husband's 


DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  109 

home  in  shrinking  terror;  with  the  threat  of  the 
oubliette  before  her,  and  with  a  sense  of  shame  and 
deception  hanging  upon  her,  making  the  wonted 
scowl  of  the  old  baroness  cut  her  both  with  remorse 
and  dread. 

She  did  indeed  sit  beside  her  bridegroom  at  the 
supper,  but  how  little  like  a  bride !  even  though  he 
pushed  the  salt-cellar,  as  if  by  accident,  below  her 
place.  She  thought  of  her  myrtle,  tended  in  vain 
at  home  by  Barbara  Schmidt ;  she  thought  of  Ulm 
courtships,  and  how  all  ought  to  have  been:  the 
solemn  embassage  to  her  uncle,  the  stately  negotia- 
tions ;  the  troth  plight  before  the  circle  of  ceremo- 
nious kindred  and  merry  maidens,  of  whom  she  had 
often  been  one — the  subsequent  attentions  of  the 
betrothed  on  all  festival  days,  the  piles  of  linen  and 
all  plenishings  accumulated  since  babyhood,  and  all 
reviewed  and  laid  out  for  general  admiration  (Ah  ! 
poor  Aunt  Johanna  still  spinning  away  to  add  to 
the  many  webs  in  her  walnut  presses !) — then  the 
grand  procession  to  fetch  home  the  bride,  the  splen- 
did festival  with  the  musicians,  dishes,  and  guest- 
tables  to  the  utmost  limit  that  was  allowed  by  the 
city  laws,  and  the  bride's  hair  so  joyously  covered 
by  her  matron's  curch  amid  the  merriment  of  her 
companion  maidens. 

Poor  child !  After  she  had  crept  away  to  her 
own  room,  glad  that  her  father  was  not  yet  re- 
turned, she  wept  bitterly  over  the  wrong  that  she 
felt  she  had  done  to  the  kind  uncle  and  aunt,  who 
must  now  look  in  vain  for  their  little  Christina,  and 


110  DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NE81. 

would  think  her  lost  to  them,  and  to  all  else  that 
was  good.  At  least  she  had  had  the  church's  bless- 
ing— but  that,  strange  to  say,  was  regarded,  in 
burgher  life  before  the  Keformation,  as  rather  the 
ornament  of  a  noble  marriage  than  as  essential  to 
the  civil  contract ;  and  a  marriage  by  a  priest  was  re- 
garded by  the  citizens  rather  as  a  means  of  eluding 
the  need  of  obtaining  the  parent's  consent,  than  as 
a  more  regular  and  devout  manner  of  wedding. 
However,  Christina  felt  this  the  one  drop  of  peace. 
The  blessings  and  prayers  were  warm  at  her  heart, 
and  gave  her  hope.  And  as  to  drops  of  joy,  of  them 
there  was  no  lack,  for  had  not  she  now  a  right  to 
love  Eberhard  with  all  her  heart  and  conscience, 
and  was  not  it  a  wonderful  love  on  his  part  that  had 
made  him  stoop  to  the  little  white-faced  burgher 
maid,  despised  even  by  her  own  father  ?  O  better 
far  to  wear  the  maiden's  uncovered  head  for  him 
than  the  myrtle  wreath  for  any  one  else ! 


DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE' 8  NEST.  HI 


CHAPTEK  711. 

THE   SCHNEIDERLEIn's   KETUEN. 

The  poor  little  unowned  bride  had  more  to  un- 
dergo than  her  imagination  had  conceived  at  the 
first  moment. 

When  she  heard  that  the  marriage  was  to  be  a 
secret,  she  had  not  understood  that  Eberhard  was 
by  no  means  disposed  to  observe  much  more  caution 
than  mere  silence.  A  rough,  though  kindly  man, 
he  did  not  thoroughly  comprehend  the  shame  and 
confusion  that  he  was  bringing  upon  her  by  depart- 
ing from  his  former  demeanor.  He  knew  that,  so 
enormous  was  the  distance  then  supposed  to  exist 
between  the  noble  and  the  burgher,  there  was  no 
chance  of  any  one  dreaming  of  the  true  state  of  the 
case,  and  that  as  long  as  Christina  was  not  taken  for 
his  wife,  there  was  no  personal  danger  for  her  from 
his  mother,  who — so  lax  were  the  morals  of  the 
German  nobility  with  regard  to  all  of  inferior  rank 
— would  tolerate  her  with  complacency  as  his  fa- 
vorite toy ;  and  he  was  taken  by  surprise  at  the 
agony  of  grief  and  shame  with  which  she  slowly 
comprehended  his  assurance  that  she  had  nothing  to 
fear. 

There  was  no  help  for  it.    The  oubliette  would 


112  DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

probably  be  the  portion  of  the  low-born  girl  who 
had  interfered  with  the  sixteen  quarterings  of  the 
Adlerstein  shield,  and  poor  Christina  never  stepped 
across  its  trap-door  without  a  shudder  lest  it  should 
open  beneath  her.  And  her  father  would  probably 
have  been  hung  from  the  highest  tower,  in  spite  of 
his  shrewd  care  to  be  aware  of  nothing.  Christina 
consoled  herself  with  the  hope  that  he  knew  all  the 
time  why  he  had  bent  sent  out  of  the  way,  for,  with 
a  broad  grin  that  had  made  her  blush  painfully,  he 
had  said  he  knew  she  would  be  well  taken  care  of, 
and  that  he  hoped  she  was  not  breaking  her  heart 
for  want  of  an  escort.  She  tried  to  extort  Eber- 
hard's  permission  to  let  him  at  least  know  how  it 
was  ;  but  Eberhard  laughed,  saying  he  believed  the 
old  fox  knew  just  as  much  as  he  chose ;  and,  in 
effect,  Sorel,  though  now  and  then  gratifying  his 
daughter's  scruples,  by  serving  as  a  shield  to  her 
meetings  with  the  young  baron,  never  allowed  him- 
self to  hear  a  hint  of  the  true  state  of  affairs. 

Eberhard' s  love  and  reverence  were  undiminished, 
and  the  time  spent  with  him  would  have  been  per- 
fectly happy  could  she  ever  have  divested  herself  of 
anxiety  and  alarm ;  but  the  periods  of  his  absence 
from  the  castle  were  very  terrible  to  her,  for  the 
other  women  of  tha  household,  quick  to  perceive 
that  she  no  longer  repelled  him,  -had  lost  that  awe 
that  had  hitherto  kept  them  at  a  distance  from  her, 
and  treated  her  with  a  familiarity,  sometimes  coarse, 
sometimes  spiteful,  always  hateful  and  degrading. 
Even  old  Ursel  had  become  half -pitying,  half -patron- 


DO  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST,  113 

izing ;  and  the  old  baroness,  though  not  molesting 
her,  took  not  the  slightest  notice  of  her. 

This  state  of  things  lasted  much  longer  than  there 
had  been  reason  to  expect  at  the  time  of  the  marriage. 
The  two  freiherren  then  intended  to  set  out  in  a  very 
short  time  to  make  their  long  talked  of  submission  to 
the  emperor  at  Katisbon;  but,  partly  from  their 
German  tardiness  of  movement,  partly  from  the  ob- 
stinate delays  interposed  by  the  proud  old  freiherinn, 
who  was  as  averse  as  ever  to  the  measure,  partly 
from  reports  that  the  court  was  not  yet  arrived  at 
Katisbon,  the  expedition  was  again  and  again  de- 
ferred, and  did  not  actually  take  place  till  September 
was  far  advanced. 

Poor  Christina  would  have  given  worlds  to  go 
with  them,  and  even  entreated  to  be  sent  to  Ulm 
with  an  avowal  of  her  marriage  to  her  uncle  and 
aunt,  but  of  this  Eberhard  would  not  hear.  He 
said  the  Ulmers  would  thus  gain  an  hostage,  and 
hamper  his  movements  ;  and,  if  her  wedding  was  not 
to  be  confessed — poor  child  ! — she  could  better  bear 
to  remain  where  she  was  than  to  face  Hausfrau 
Johnanna.  Eberhard  was  fully  determined  to  en- 
roll himself  in  some  troop,  either  imperial,  or,  if 
not,  among  the  Free  Companies,  among  whom  men 
of  rank  were  often  found,  and  he  would  then  fetch 
or  send  for  his  wife  and  avow  her  openly,  so  soon  as 
she  should  be  out  of  his  mother's  reach.  He  longed 
to  leave  her  father  at  home,  to  be  some  protection 
to  her,  but  Hugh  Sorel  was  so  much  the  most  intel- 
ligent and  skillful  of  the  retainers  as  to  be  absolutely 


114  DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

indispensable  to  the  party — he  was  their  only  scribe; 
and  moreover  his  new  suit  of  buff  rendered  him  a 
creditable  member  of  a  troop  that  had  been  very 
hard  to  equip.  It  numbered  about  ten  men-at-arms, 
only  three  being  left  at  home  to  garrison  the  castle 
— ^namely,  Hatto,  who  was  too  old  to  take ;  Hans, 
who  had  been  hopelessly  lame  and  deformed  since 
the  old  baron  had  knocked  him  off  a  cliff  in  a  passion; 
and  Squinting  Matz,  a  runaway  servant,  who  had 
murdered  his  master,  the  mayor  of  Strasburg,  and 
might  be  caught  and  put  to  death  if  any  one  recog- 
nized him.  If  needful  the  villagers  could  always  be 
called  in  to  defend  the  castle ;  but  of  this  there  was 
little  or  no  danger — the  Eagle's  Steps  were  defense 
enough  in  themselves,  and  the  party  were  not  likely 
to  be  absent  more  than  a  week  or  ten  days — a  griev- 
ous length  of  time,  poor  Christina  thought,  as  she 
stood  straining  her  eyes  on  the  top  of  the  watch- 
tower,  to  watch  them  as  far  as  possible  along  the 
plain.  Her  heart  was  very  sad,  and  the  omen  of 
the  burning  wheel  so  continually  haunted  her  that 
even  in  her  sleep  that  night  she  saw  its  brief  course 
repeated,  beheld  its  rapid  fall  and  extinction,  and 
then  tracked  the  course  of  the  sparks  that  darted 
from  it,  one  rising  and  gleaming  high  in  air  till  it 
shone  like  a  star,  another  pursuing  a  fitful  and  ir- 
regular, but  still  bright  course  amid  the  dry  grass 
on  the  hillside,  just  as  she  had  indeed  watched  some 
of  the  sparks  on  that  night,  minding  her  of  the 
words  of  the  Allhallow-tide  legend:  '^  Fulgebunt 
justi  et  tanquam  scintillce  in  arundinete  discurrent " 


DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST,  115 

— a  sentence  which  remained  with  her  when  awake, 
and  led  her  to  seek  it  out  in  her  Latin  Bible  in  the 
morning. 

Reluctlantly  had  she  gone  down  to  the  noontide 
meal,  feeling,  though  her  husband  and  father  were 
far  less  of  guardians  than  they  should  have  been, 
yet  that  there  was  absolute  rest,  peace,  and  protec- 
tion in  their  presence  compared  to  what  it  was  to  be 
alone  with  Freiherrin  Kunigunde  and  her  rude 
women  without  them.  A  few  sneers  on  her  dainti- 
ness and  uselessness  had  led  her  to  make  an  offer  of 
assisting  in  the  grand  chopping  of  sausage  meat  and 
preparation  of  winter  stores,  and  she  had  been  an- 
swered with  contempt  that  my  young  lord  would 
not  have  her  soil  her  delicate  hands,  when  one  of 
the  maids  who  had  been  sent  to  fetch  beer  from  the 
cellar  came  back  with  startled  looks,  and  the  ex- 
clamation: "  There  is  the  schneiderlein  riding  up 
the  Eagle's  Ladder  upon  Freiherr  Ebbo's  white 
mare ! " 

All  the  women  sprang  up  together,  and  rushed  to 
the  window,  whence  they  could  indeed  recognize 
both  man  and  horse  ;  and  presently  it  became  plain 
that  both  were  stained  with  blood,  weary,  and 
spent ;  indeed,  nothing  but  extreme  exhaustion  would 
have  induced  the  man-at-arms  to  trust  the  tired, 
stumbling  horse  up  such  a  perilous  path. 

Loud  were  the  exclamations:  "  Ah !  nc  ,od  could 
come  of  not  leading  that  mare  through  the  Johan- 
nisfeuer." 

"  This  shameful  expedition :      Only  harm  could 


116  DOVE  IN  THE  EA OLE '8  NE8T, 

befall.  This  is  thy  doing,  thou  mincing  city- 
girl." 

"  All  was  certain  to  go  wrong  when  a  pale  mist 
widow  came  into  the  place." 

The  angry  and  dismayed  cries  all  blended  them- 
selves in  confusion  in  the  ears  of  the  only  silent 
woman  present ;  the  only  one  that  sounded  dis- 
tinctly on  her  brain  was  that  of  the  last  speaker, 
"  a  pale,  mist  widow,"  as  holding  herself  a  little  in 
the  rear  of  the  struggling,  jostling  little  mob  of 
women,  who  hardly  made  way  even  for  their 
acknowledged  lady,  she  followed  with  failing  limbs 
the  universal  rush  to  the  entrance  as  soon  as  man 
and  horse  had  mounted  the  slope  and  were  lost 
sight  of. 

A  few  moments  more,  and  the  throng  of  expect- 
ants was  at  the  foot  of  the  hall  steps,  just  as  the 
lanzknecht  reached  the  arched  entrance.  His  com- 
rade, Hans,  took  his  bridle,  and  almost  lifted  bim 
from  his  horse ;  he  reeled  and  stumbled,  as  pale, 
battered,  and  bleeding,  he  tried  to  advance  to  Frei- 
herinn  Kunigunde,  and  in  answer  to  her  hasty  in- 
terrogation, faltered  out:  "  111  news,  gracious  lady. 
We  have  been  set  upon  by  the  accursed  Schlangen- 
waldern,  and  I  am  the  only  living  man  left." 

Christina  scarce  heard  even  these  last  words; 
senses  and  powers  alike  failed  her,  and  she  sank 
back  on  the  stone  steps  in  a  death-like  swoon. 

When  she  came  to  herself  she  was  lying  on  her 
bed,  Ursel  and  Else,  another  of  the  woman,  busy 
over  her^  and  Ursel's  voice  was  saying,  "  Ah,   she  is 


DOVB  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST,  117 

coming  round.  Look  up,  sweet  lady,  and  fear  not. 
You  are  our  gracious  lady  baroness." 

*•  Is  he  here  ?  Oh,  has  he  said  so  ?  Oh,  let  me  see 
him — Sir  Eberhard,"  faintly  cried  Christina  with 
sobbing  breath. 

"  Ah,  no,  no,"  said  the  old  woman  ;  "  but  see 
here,"  and  she  lifted  up  Christina's  powerless,  blood- 
less hand,  and  showed  her  the  ring  on  the  finger. 
Her  bosom  had  been  evidently  searched  when  her 
dress  was  loosened  in  her  swoon,  and  her  ring  found 
and  put  in  its  place.  "  There,  you  can  hold  up  your 
head  with  the  best  of  them  ;  he  took  care  of  that — 
my  dear  young  freiherr,  the  boy  that  I  nursed," 
and  the  old  woman's  burst  of  tears  brought  back 
the  truth  to  Christina's  reviving  senses. 

"  Oh,  tell  me,"  she  said,  trying  to  raise  herself, 
*'  was  it  indeed  so  ?    Oh,  say  it  was  not  as  he  said!  " 

"  Oh,  woe's  me,  woe's  me,  that  it  was  even  so," 
lamented  Ursel;  "but  oh,  be  still,  look  not  so  wild, 
dear  lady.  The  dear,  true-hearted  young  lord,  he 
spent  his  last  breath  in  owning  you  for  his  true  lady, 
and  in  bidding  us  cherish  you  and  our  young  baron 
that  is  to  be.  And  the  gracious  lady  below — 
she  owns  you ;  there  is  no  fear  of  her  now ;  so 
vex  not  yourself,  dearest,  most  gracious  lady." 

Christina  did  not  break  out  into  the  wailing  and 
weeping  that  the  old  nurse  expected ;  she  was  still 
far  too  much  stunned  and  overwhelmed,  and  she 
entreated  to  be  told  all,  lying  still,,  but  gazing  at 
Ursel  with  piteous  bewildered  eyes.  Ursel  and  Else 
helping  one  another  out,  tried  to  tell  her,  but  they 


118  DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

were  much  confused ;  all  they  knew  was  that  the 
party  had  been  surprised  at  night  in  a  village  hostel 
by  the  Schlangenwaldern,  and  all  slain,  though  the 
young  baron  had  lived  long  enough  to  charge  the 
schneiderlein  with  his  commendation  of  his  wife  to 
his  mother ;  but  all  particulars  had  been  lost  in  the 
general  confusion. 

"Oh,  let  me  see  the  schneiderlein,"  implored 
Christina,  by  this  time  able  to  rise  and  cross  the 
room  to  the  large  carved  chair ;  and  Ursel  immedi- 
ately turned  to  her  underling,  saj^ing,  "  Tell  the 
schneiderlein  that  the  gracious  lady  baroness  de- 
sires his  presence." 

Else's  wooden  shoes  clattered  downstairs,  but  the 
next  moment  she  returned.  "  He  cannot  come ;  he 
is  quite  spent,  and  he  will  let  no  one  touch  his  arm 
till  Ursel  can  come,  not  even  to  get  off  his  doublet. 

"  I  will  go  to  him,"  said  Christina,  and,  revived 
by  the  sense  of  being  wanted,  she  moved  at  once  to 
the  turret,  where  she  kept  some  rag  and  some 
ointment,  which  she  had  found  needful  in  the  latter 
stages  of  Ermentrude's  illness — indeed,  household 
surgery  was  a  part  of  regular  female  education,  and 
Christina  had  had  plenty  of  practice  in  helping  her 
charitable  aunt,  so  that  the  superiority  of  her  skill 
to  that  of  Ursel  had  long  been  avowed  in  the  castle. 
Ursel  made  no  objection  further  than  to  look  for 
something  that  could  be  at  once  converted  into  a 
widow's  veil,  being  in  the  midst  of  her  grief  quite  aHve 
to  the  need  that  no  matronly  badge  should  be  omitted 
— but  nothing  came  to  hand  in  time,  and  Christina 


LOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  119 

was  descending  the  stairs,  on  her  way  to  the  kitchen, 
where  she  found  the  fugitive  man-at-arms  seated  on 
a  rough  settle,  his  head  and  wounded  arm  resting  on 
the  table,  while  groans  of  pain,  weariness,  and  im- 
patience were  interspersed  with  imprecations  on 
the  stupid  awkward  girls  who  surrounded  him. 

Pity  and  the  instinct  of  affording  relief  must 
needs  take  the  precedence  even  of  the  desire  to  hear 
of  her  husband's  fate ;  and,  as  the  girls  hastily 
whispered,  "  Here  she  is,"  and  the  lanzknecht  hastily 
tried  to  gather  himself  up,  and  rise  with  tokens 
of  respect,  she  bade  him  remain  still,  and  let  her  see 
•what  she  could  do  for  him.  In  fact,  she  at  once  per- 
ceived that  he  was  in  no  condition  to  give  a  coherent 
account  of  anything,  he  was  so  completely  worn 
out,  and  in  so  much  suffering.  She  bade  at  once 
that  some  water  should  be  heated,  and  some  of  the 
broth  of  the  dinner  set  on  the  fire ;  then  with  the 
shears  at  her  girdle,  and  her  soft,  light  fingers,  she 
removed  the  torn  strip  of  cloth  that  had  been  wound 
round  the  arm,  and  cut  away  the  sleeve,  shoAving 
the  arm  not  broken,  but  gashed  at  the  shoulder, 
and  thence  the  whole  length  grazed  and  wounded 
by  the  descent  of  the  sword  down  to  the  wrist. 
So  tender  was  her  touch,  that  he  scarcely  winced  or 
moaned  under  her  hand ;  and  when  she  proceeded, 
with  Ursel's  help,  to  bathe  the  wound  with  the  warm 
water,  the  relief  was  such  that  the  wearied  man 
absolutely  slumbered  during  the  process,  which 
Christina  protracted  on  that  very  account.  She 
then  dressed  and  bandaged  the  arm,  and  proceeded 


120  DO  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE' 8  NEST, 

to  skim — as  no  one  else  in  the  castle  would  do— 
the  basin  of  soup,  with  which  she  then  fed  her 
patient  as  he  leaned  back  in  the  corner  of  the  settle, 
at  first  in  the  same  somnolent,  half-conscious  state 
in  which  he  had  been  ever  since  the  rehef  from 
the  severe  pain ;  but  after  a  few  spoonfuls  the  light 
and  life  came  back  to  his  eye,  and  he  broke  out, 
"  Thanks,  thanks,  gracious  lady !  This  is  the  lady 
baroness  for  me !  My  young  lord  was  the  only  wise 
man !  Thanks,  lady ;  now  am  I  my  own  man  again. 
It  had  been  long  ere  the  old  freiherrinn  had  done  *so 
much  for  me !  I  am  your  man,  lady,  for  life  or 
death !  "  And,  before  she  knew  what  he  was  about,, 
the  gigantic  schneiderlein  had  slid  down  on  his 
knees,  seized  her  hand,  and  kissed  it — the  first  act 
of  homage  to  her  rank,  but  most  startHng  and  dis. 
tressing  to  her.  "  Nay,"  she  faltered,  "  prithee  do 
not ;  thou  must  rest.  Only  if — if  thou  canst  only 
tell  me  if  he,  my  own  dear  lord,  sent  me  any 
greeting,  I  would  wait  to  hear  the  rest  till  thou 
hast  slept." 

"  Ah !  the  dog  of  Schlangenwald ! "  was  the  first 
answer ;  then,  as  he  continued,  "  You  see  lady,  we 
had  ridden  merrily  as  far  as  Jacob  Miiller's  hostel, 
the  traitor,"  it  became  plain  that  he  meant  to  begin 
at  the  beginning.  She  allowed  Ursel  to  seat  her  on 
the  bench  opposite  to  his  settle,  and,  leaning  forward, 
heard  his  narrative  like  one  in  a  dream.  There,  the 
schneiderlein  proceeded  to  say,  they  put  up  for  the 
night,  entirely  unsuspicious  of  evil ;  Jacob  Miiller, 
who  was  known  to  himself^  as  well  as  to  Sorel  and 


DOVE  IN  THE  EA GLE *S  NEST,  121 

to  the  others,  assuring  them  that  the  way  was  clear 
to  Katisbon,  and  that  he  heard  the  emperor  was 
most  favorably  disposed  to  any  noble  who  would 
tender  his  allegiance.  Jacob's  liquors  were  brought 
out,  and  were  still  in  course  of  being  enjoyed,  when 
the  house  was  suddenly  surrounded  by  an  over- 
powering number  of  the  retainers  of  Schlangenwald, 
with  their  count  himself  at  their  head.  He  had 
been  evidently  resolved  to  prevent  the  timely  sub- 
mission of  the  enemies  of  his  race,  and  suddenly 
presenting  himself  before  the  elder  baron,  had 
challenged  him  to  instantaneous  battle,  claiming 
credit  to  himself  for  not  having  surprised  them 
when  asleep.  The  disadvantage  had  been  scarcely 
less  than  if  this  had  been  the  case,  for  the  Adler- 
steinern  were  all  half  intoxicated,  and  far  inferior  in 
numbers — at  least,  on  the  showing  of  the  schneide- 
lein — and  a  desperate  fight  had  ended  by  his  being 
flung  aside  in  a  corner,  bound  fast  by  the  ankles  and 
wrists,  the  only  living  prisoner,  except  his  young 
lord,  who,  having  several  terrible  wounds,  the  worst 
in  his  chest,  was  left  unbound. 

Both  lay  helpless,  untended,  and  silent,  while  the 
revel  that  had  been  so  fatal  to  them  was  renewed  by 
their  captors,  who  finally  all  sunk  into  a  heavy 
sleep.  The  torches  were  not  all  spent,  and  the 
moonlight  shone  into  the  room,  when  the  schneider- 
lein,  desperate  from  the  agony  caused  by  the 
ligature  round  his  w^ounded  arm,  sat  up  and  looked 
about  him.  A  knife  thrown  aside  by  one  of  the 
drunkards  lay  near  enough  to  be  grasped  by  his 


123  DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

bound  hands,  and  he  had  just  reached  it  when  Sir 
Eberhard  made  a  sign  to  him  to  put  it  into  his  hand, 
and  therewith  contrived  to  cut  the  rope  round  both 
hands  and  feet — then  pointed  to  the  door. 

There  was  nothing  to  hinder  an  escape  ;  the  men 
slept  the  sleep  of  the  drunken ;  but  the  schneider- 
lein,  with  the  rough  fidelity  of  a  retainer,  would 
have  lingered  with  a  hope  of  saving  his  master.  But 
Eberhard  shook  his  head,  and  signed  again  to 
escape  ;  then  making  him  bend  down  close  to  him, 
he  used  all  his  remaining  power  to  whisper,  as  he 
pressed  his  sword  into  the  retainer's  hand: 

"  Go  home ;  tell  my  mother — all  the  world — that 
Christina  Sorel  is  my  wife,  wedded  on  the  Friedmund 
Wake  by  Friar  Peter  of  OflBngen,  and  if  she  should 
bear  a  child,  he  is  my  true  and  lawful  heir.  My  sword 
for  him — my  love  to  her.  And  if  my  mother  would 
not  be  haunted  by  me,  let  her  take  care  of  her." 

These  words  were  spoken  with  extreme  difficulty, 
for  the  nature  of  the.  wound  made  utterance  nearly 
impossible,  and  each  broken  sentence  cost  a  terrible 
effusion  of  blood.  The  final  words  brought  on  so 
choking  and  fatal  a  gush  that,  said  the  schneider- 
lein,  "  he  fell  back  as  I  tried  to  hold  him  up,  and  I 
saw  that  it  was  all  at  an  end,  and  a  kind  and 
friendly  master  and  lord  gone  from  me.  I  laid  him 
down,  and  put  his  cross  on  his  breast  that  I  had 
seen  him  kissing  many  a  time  that  evening ;  and  I 
crossed  his  hands,  and  wiped  the  blood  from  them 
and  his  face.  And,  lady,  he  had  put  on  his  ring ;  I 
trust  the  robber  catiffs  may  have  left  it  to  him  in 


DO  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST  123 

his  grave.  And  so  I  came  forth,  walking  soft,  and 
opening  the  door  in  no  small  dread,  not  of  the  snor- 
ing swine,  but  of  the  dogs  without.  But  happily 
they  were  still,  and  even  by  the  door  I  saw  all  our 
poor  fellows  stark  and  stiff." 

"  My  father  ? "  asked  Christina. 

"  Ay !  with  his  head  cleft  open  by  the  graf  him- 
self. He  died  like  a  true  soldier,  lady,  and  we  have 
lost  the  best  head  among  us  in  him.  "Well,  .the 
knave  that  should  have  watched  the  horses  was  as 
drunken  as  the  rest  of  them,  and  I  make  a  shift  to 
put  the  bridle  on  the  white  mare  and  ride  off." 

Such  was  the  narrative  of  the  schneiderlein,  and 
all  that  was  left  to  Christina  was  the  picture  of  her 
husband's  dying  effort  to  guard  her,  and  the  haunt- 
ing fancy  of  those  long  hours  of  speechless  agony  on 
the  floor  of  the  hostel,  and  how  direful  must  have 
been  his  fears  for  her.  Sad  and  overcome,  yet  not 
sinking  entirely  while  any  work  of  comfort  re- 
mained, her  heart  yearned  over  her  companion  in 
misfortune,  the  mother  who  had  lost  both  husband 
and  son ;  and  all  her  fears  of  the  dread  freiherrin 
could  not  prevent  her  from  bending  her  steps,  trem- 
bling and  palpitating  as  she  was,  toward  the  hall,  to 
try  whether  the  daughter-in-law's  right  might  be 
vouchsafed  to  her,  of  weeping  with  the  elder  sufferer. 

The  freiherrinn  sat  by  the  chimney,  rocking  her- 
self to  and  fro,  and  holding  consultation  with  Hatto. 
She  started  as  she  saw  Christina  approaching,  and 
made  a  gesture  of  repulsion ;  but,  with  the  feeling 
of  being  past  all  terror  in  this  desolate  moment, 


124  DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

Christina  stepped  nearer,  knelt,  and,  clasping  her 
hands,  said,  "  Your  pardon,  lady." 

"  Pardon  ! "  returned  the  harsh  voice,  even  harsher 
for  very  grief,  "  thou  hast  naught  to  fear,  girL  As 
things  stand,  thou  canst  not  have  thy  deserts.  Dost 
hear?" 

"  Ah,  lady,  it  was  not  such  pardon  that  I  meant. 
If  you  would  let  me  be  a  daughter  to  you." 

"A  daughter?  A  wood-carver's  girl  to  be  a 
daughter  of  Adlerstein!"  half  laughed  the  grim 
baroness.  "Come  here,  wench,"  and  Christina 
underwent  a  series  of  sharp  searching  questions  on 
the  evidences  of  her  marriage. 

"  So,"  ended  the  old  lady,  "  since  better  may  not 
be,  we  must  own  thee  for  the  nonce.  Hark  ye  all, 
this  is  the  frau  freiherrinn,  Freiherr  Eberhard's 
widow,  to  be  honored  as  such,"  she  added,  raising 
her  voice.  "  There,  girl,  thou  hast  what  thou  didst 
strive  for.     Is  not  that  enough  ? " 

"  Alas  ?  lady,"  said  Christina,  her  eyes  swimming 
in  tears,  "  I  would  fain  have  striven  to  be  a  com- 
forter, or  to  weep  together." 

"  What !  to  bewitch  me  as  thou  didst  my  poor  son 
and  daughter,  and  well-nigh  my  lord  himself !  Girl ! 
Girl !  Thou  know'st  I  cannot  burn  thee  now ;  but 
away  with  thee ;  try  not  my  patience  too  far." 

And,  more  desolate  than  ever,  the  crushed  and 
broken-hearted  Christina,  a  widow  before  she  had 
been  owned  a  wife,  returned  to  the  room  that  was 
now  so  full  of  memories  as  to  be  even  more  home 
than  Master  Gottfried's  gallery  at  Ulm. 


DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE' 8  NEST.  125 


CHAPTEE  YIII. 

PASSING   THE   OUBLIETTE. 

Who  can  describe  the  dreariness  of  being  sno wed- 
up  all  the  winter  with  such  a  mother-in-law  as 
Freiherinn  Kunigunde  ? 

Yet  it  was  well  that  the  snow  came  early,  for  it 
was  the  best  defense  of  the  lonely  castle  from  any 
attack  on  the  part  of  the  Schlangenwaldern,  the 
Swabian  League,  or  the  next  heir,  Freiherr  Kasimir 
von  Adlerstein  Wildschloss.  The  elder  baroness 
had,  at  least,  the  merit  of  a  stout  heart,  and,  even 
with  her  sadly-reduced  garrison,  feared  none  of  them. 
She  had  been  brought  up  in  the  faith  that  Adlerstein 
was  impregnable,  and  so  she  still  believed ;  and,  if  the 
disaster  that  had  cut  off  her  husband  and  son  was  to 
happen  at  all,  she  was  glad  that  it  had  befallen  be- 
fore the  homage  had  been  paid.  Probably  the 
Schlangenwald  count  knew  how  tough  a  morsel  the 
castle  was  like  to  prove,  and  Wildschloss  was  serv- 
ing at  a  distance,  for  nothing  was  heard  of  either 
during  the  short  interval  while  the  roads  were  still 
open.  During  this  time  an  attempt  had  been  made 
through  Father  l^orbert  to  ascertain  what  had  be- 
come of  the  corpses  of  the  two  barons  and  their 
followers,  and  it  had  appeared  that  the  count  had 


126  DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

carried  them  all  off  from  the  inn,  no  doubt  to  adorn 
his  castle  with  their  limbs,  or  to  present  them  to  the 
emperor  in  evidence  of  his  zeal  for  order.  The  old 
baron  could  not  indeed  have  been  buried  in  conse- 
crated ground,  nor  have  masses  said  for  him  ;  but 
for  the  weal  of  her  son's  soul  Dame  Kunigunde  gave 
some  of  her  few  ornaments,  and  Christina  added  her 
gold  earrings  and  all  her  scanty  purse,  that  both  her 
husband  and  father  might  be  joined  in  the  prayers 
of  the  church — trying  with  all  her  might  to  put 
confidence  in  Hugh  Sorel's  Loretto  relic  and  the  in- 
dulgence he  had  bought,  and  trusting  with  more 
consolatory  thoughts  to  the  ever  stronger  dawnings 
of  good  she  had  watched  in  her  own  Eberhard. 

She  had  some  consoling  intercourse  with  the 
priest  while  all  this  was  pending ;  but  throughout  the 
winter  she  was  entirely  cut  off  from  every  creature 
save  the  inmates  of  the  castle,  where,  as  far  as  the 
old  lady  was  concerned,  she  only  existed  on  suffrance 
and  all  her  meekness  and  gentleness  could  not  win 
for  her  more  than  the  barest  toleration. 

That  Eberhard  had  for  a  few  hours  survived  his 
father,  and  that  thus  the  Freiherrinn  Christina  was 
as  much  the  dowager  baroness  as  Kunigunde  her- 
self, was  often  insisted  on  in  the  kitchen  by  Ursel, 
Hatto,  and  the  schneiderlein,  whom  Christina  had 
unconsciously  rendered  her  most  devoted  servant 
not  only  by  her  daily  care  of  his  wound,  but  by  her 
iiind,  courteous  words,  and  by  her  giving  him  his 
proper  name  of  Heinz,  dropping  the  absurd  nom  de 
guerre  of  the  schneiderlein,  or  little    tailor,   which 


DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  127 

had  been  originally  conferred  on  him  in  allusion  to 
the  vaKant  Tailorling  who  boasted  of  having  killed 
seven  flies  at  a  blow,  and  had  been  carried  on 
chiefly  because  of  the  contradiction  between  such  a 
title  and  his  huge  brawny  strength  and  fierce  cour- 
age. Poor  Eberhard,  with  his  undaunted  bravery 
and  free  reckless  good-nature,  a  ruffian  far  more  by 
education  than  by  nature,  had  been  much  loved  by 
his  followers.  His  widow  would  have  reaped  the 
benefit  of  that  affection  even  if  her  exceeding  sweet- 
ness had  not  gained  it  on  her  own  account ;  and  this 
giant  was  completely  gained  over  to  her,  when, 
amid  all  her  sorrow  and  feebleness,  she  never  failed 
to  minister  to  his  sufferings  to  the  utmost,  while  her 
questions  about  his  original  home,  and  revival  of 
the  name  of  his  childhood,  softened  him,  and  awoke 
in  him  better  feelings.  He  would  have  died  to 
serve  her,  and  she  might  have  headed  an  opposition 
party  in  the  castle,  had  she  not  been  quite  indiffer- 
ent to  all  save  her  grief ;  and,  except  by  sitting 
above  the  salt  at  the  empty  table,  she  laid  no  claim 
to  any  honors  or  authority,  and  was  more  seldom 
than  ever  seen  beyond  what  was  now  called  her  own 
room. 

At  last,  when  for  the  second  time  she  was  seeing 
the  snow  wreaths  dwindle,  and  the  drops  shine  forth 
in  moisture  again,  while  the  mountain  paths  were 
set  free  by  the  might  of  the  springtide  sun,  she 
spoke  almost  for  the  first  time  with  authority  as  she 
desired  Heinz  to  saddle  her  mule,  and  escort  her  to 
join  in  the  Easter  mass  at  the  Blessed  Friedmund's 


128  DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

chapel.  Ursel  heaped  up  objections ;  but  so  urgent 
was  Christina  for  confession  and  for  mass,  that  the 
old  woman  had  not  the  heart  to  stop  her  by  a 
warning  to  the  elder  baroness,  and  took  the  alter- 
native of  accompanying  her.  It  was  a  glorious 
sparkling  Easter  Day,  lovely  blue  sky  above,  herb- 
age and  flowers  glistening  below,  snow  dazzling  in 
the  hollows,  peasants  assembling  in  holiday  garb, 
and  all  rejoicing.  Even  the  lonely  widow,  in  her 
heavy  veil  and  black  mufflings,  took  hope  back  to 
her  heart,  and  smiled  when  at  the  church  door  a  little 
child  came  timidly  up  to  her  with  a  madder-tinted 
Easter  egg — a  gift  once  again  like  the  happy  home 
customs  of  Ulm.  She  gave  the  child  a  kiss — she 
had  nothing  else  to  give,  but  the  sweet  face  sent  it 
away  strangely  glad. 

The  festival  mass  in  all  its  exultation  was  not 
fully  over,  when  anxious  faces  began  to  be  seen  at 
the  door,  and  whisperings  went  round  and  many 
passed  out.  E"obody  at  Adlerstein  was  particular 
about  silence  in  church,  and,  when  the  service  was 
not  in  progress,  voices  were  not  even  lowered,  and, 
after  many  attempts  on  the  part  of  the  schneiderlein 
to  attract  the  attention  of  his  mistress,  his  voice 
immediately  succeeded  the  Ite  missa  eat:  ^  Gracious 
lady,  we  must  begone.  Your  mule  is  ready. 
There  is  a  party  at  the  Debatable  Ford,  whether 
Schlangenwald  or  Wildschloss  we  know  not  yet, 
but  either  way  you  must  be  the  first  thing  placed  in 
safety." 

Christina  turned  deadly  pale.    She  had  long  been 


DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  129 

ready  to  welcome  death  as  a  peaceful  friend ;  but, 
sheltered  as  her  girlhood  had  been  in  the  quiet  city, 
she  had  never  been  brought  in  contact  with  war- 
fare, and  her  nervous,  timid  temperament  made  the 
thought  most  appalling  and  frightful  to  her,  certain 
as  she  was  that  the  old  baroness  would  resist  to  the 
uttermost.  Father  Norbert  saw  her  extreme  terror 
and,  with  the  thought  that  he  might  comfort  and 
support  her,  perhaps  mediate  between  the  contend- 
ing parties,  plead  that  it  was  holy  tide,  and  proclaim 
the  peace  of  the  church,  or  at  the  worse  protect  the 
lady  herself,  he  offered  his  company  ;  but,  though 
she  thanked  him,  it  was  as  if  she  scarcely  under- 
stood his  kindness,  and  a  shudder  passed  over  her 
whenever  the  serfs,  hastily  summoned  to  augment 
the  garrison,  came  hurrying  down  the  path,  or 
turned  aside  into  the  more  rugged  and  shorter  de- 
scents. It  was  strange,  the  good  father  thought, 
that  so  timorous  and  fragile  a  being  should  have  her 
lot  cast  amid  these  rugged  places  and  scenes  of 
violence,  with  no  one  to  give  her  the  care  and  cher- 
ishing she  so  much  required. 

Even  when  she  crept  up  the  castle  stairs,  she  was 
met  with  an  angry  rebuke,  not  so  much  for  the 
peril  she  had  incurred  as  for  having  taken  away  the 
schneiderlein,  by  far  the  most  availing  among  the 
scanty  remnant  of  the  retainers  of  Adlerstein.  At- 
tempting no  answer,  and  not  even  daring  to  ask 
from  what  quarter  came  the  alarm,  Christina  made 
her  way  out  of  the  turmoil  to  that  chamber  of  her 
own,  the  scene  of  so  much  fear  and  sorrow,  and  yet 


130  DO  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

of  some  share  of  peace  and  happiness.  But  from 
the  window,  near  the  fast  subsiding  waters  of  the 
Debatable  Ford,  could  plainly  be  seen  the  small 
troop  of  warriors,  of  whom  Jobst  the  kohler  had 
brought  immediate  intelligence.  The  sun  glistened 
on  their  armor,  and  a  banner  floated  gaily  on  the 
wind  ;  but  they  were  a  fearful  sight  to  the  inmates 
of  the  lonely  castle. 

A  stout  heart  was  however  Kunigunde's  best 
endowment ;  and,  with  the  steadiness  and  precision 
of  a  general,  her  commands  rang  out,  as  she 
arranged  and  armed  her  garrison,  perfectly  resolved 
against  any  submission,  and  confident  in  the  strength 
of  her  castle ;  nay,  not  without  a  hope  of  revenge 
either  against  Schlangenwald  or  Wildschloss,  whom, 
as  a  degenerate  Adlerstein,  she  hated  only  less  than 
the  slayer  of  her  husband  and  son. 

The  afternoon  of  Easter  Day  however  passed 
away  without  any  movement  on  the  part  of  the 
enemy,  and  it  was  not  till  the  following  day  that 
they  could  be  seen  struggling  through  the  ford,  and 
preparing  to  ascend  the  mountain.  Attacks  had 
sometimes  been  disconcerted  by  posting  men  in  the 
most  dangerous  passes ;  but,  in  the  lack  of  numbers, 
and  of  trustworthy  commanders,  the  freiherrinn  had 
judged  it  wiser  to  trust  entirely  to  her  walls,  and 
keep  her  whole  force  within  them. 

The  newcomers  could  hardly  have  had  any  hos- 
tile intentions,  for,  though  well  armed  and  accoutered, 
their  numbers  did  not  exceed  twenty-five.  The 
banner  borne  at  their  head  was  an  azure  one,  with 


DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  131 

a  white  eagle,  and  their  leader  could  be  observed 
looking  with  amazement  at  the  top  of  the  watch- 
tower,  where  the  same  eagle  had  that  morning  been 
hoisted  for  the  first  time  since  the  fall  of  the  two 
freiherren. 

So  soon  as  the  ascent  had  been  made,  the  leader 
wound  his  horn,  and,  before  the  echoes  had  died 
away  among  the  hills,  Hatto,  acting  as  seneschal, 
was  demanding  his  purpose. 

"  I  am  Kasimir  von  Adlerstein  Wildschloss,"  was 
the  reply.  "  I  have  hitherto  been  hindered  by  stress 
of  weather  from  coming  to  take  possession  of  my 
inheritance.  Admit  me,  that  I  may  arrange  with 
the  widowed  frau  freiherrinn  as  to  her  dower  and 
residence." 

"  The  widowed  frau  freiherrinn,  born  of  Adler- 
stein," returned  Hatto,  "  thanks  the  Freiherr  von 
Adlerstein  Wildschloss  ;  but  she  holds  the  castle  as 
guardian  to  the  present  head  of  the  family,  the 
Freiherr  von  Adlerstein." 

"  It  is  false,  old  man,"  exclaimed  the  "Wildschloss  ; 
"  the  freiherr  had  no  other  son." 

"  ISTo,"  said  Hatto,  "  but  Freiherr  Eberhard  hath 
left  us  twin  heirs,  our  young  lords,  for  whom  we 
hold  this  castle." 

"  This  trifling  will  not  serve ! "  sternly  spoke 
the  knight.  "Eberhard  von  Adlerstein  died 
unmarried." 

"  Not  so,"  returned  Hatto,  "  our  gracious  frau 
freiherrinn,  the  younger,  was  wedded  to  him  at  the 
last  Friedmund  Wake,  by  the  special  blessing  of 


132  I>0  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE '8  NEST, 

our  good  patron,  who  would  not  see  our  house  ex- 
tinct." 

"  I  must  see  thy  lady,  old  man,"  said  Sir  Kasimir, 
impatiently,  not  in  the  least  crediting  the  story, 
and  believing  his  cousin  Kunigunde  quite  capable  of 
any  measure  that  could  preserve  to  her  the  rule  in 
Schloss  Adlerstein,  even  to  erecting  some  passing 
love  affair  of  her  son's  into  a  marriage.  And  he 
hardly  did  her  injustice,  for  she  had  never  made 
any  inquiry  beyond  the  castle  into  the  validity  of 
Christina's  espousals,  nor  sought  after  the  friar  who 
had  performed  the  ceremony.  She  consented  to  an 
interview  with  the  claimant  of  the  inheritance,  and 
descended  to  the  gateway  for  the  purpose.  The 
court  was  at  its  cleanest,  the  thawing  snow  having 
newly  washed  away  its  impurities,  and  her  proud 
figure  under  her  black  hood  and  veil  made  an  im- 
posing appearance  as  she  stood  taU  and  defiant  in 
the  archway. 

Sir  Kasimir  was  a  handsome  man  of  about  thirty, 
of  partly  Polish  descent,  and  endowed  with  Slavonic 
grace  and  courtesy,  and  he  had  likewise  been  em- 
ployed in  negotiations  with  Burgundy,  and  had 
acquired  much  polish  and  knowledge  of  the  world. 

"Lady,"  he  said,  "I  regret  to  disturb  and  intrude 
on  a  mourning  family,  but  I  am  much  amazed  at 
the  tidings  I  have  heard ;  and  I  must  pray  of  you 
to  confirm  them." 

"I  thought  they  would  confound  you,"  compos- 
edly replied  Kunigunde. 

"  And  pardon  me,  lady,  but  the  Diet  is  very  nice 


DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  133 

in  requiring  full  proofs.  I  would  be  glad  to  learn 
what  lady  was  chosen  by  my  deceased  cousin  Eber- 
hard." 

"  The  lady  is  Christina,  daughter  of  his  esquire, 
Hugh  Sorel,  of  an  honorable  family  at  Ulm." 

"Ha!  I  know  who  and  what  Sorel  was!"  ex- 
claimed Wildschloss.  "  Lady  cousin,  thou  would'st 
not  stain  the  shield  of  Adlerstein  with  owning 
aught  that  cannot  bear  the  examination  of  the 
Diet!" 

"  Sir  Kasimir,"  said  Kunigunde,  proudly,  "  had  I 
known  the  truth  ere  my  son's  death,  I  had  stran- 
gled the  girl  with  mine  own  hands !  But  I  learned 
it  only  by  his  dying  confession ;  and,  had  she  been 
a  beggar's  child,  she  was  his  wedded  wife,  and  her 
babes  are  his  lawful  heirs." 

"  Knowest  thou  time — place — ^witnesses  ? "  inquired 
Sir  Kasimir. 

"  The  time,  the  Friedmund  Wake ;  the  place,  the 
Friedmund  Chapel,"  replied  the  baroness.  "  Come 
hither,  schneiderlein.  Tell  the  knight  thy  young 
lord's  confession." 

He  bore  emphatic  testimony  to  poor  Eberhard's 
last  words ;  but  as  to  the  point  of  who  had  per- 
formed the  ceremony,  he  knew  not — his  mind  had 
not  retained  the  name. 

"I  must  see  the  frau  herself,"  said  "Wildschloss, 
feeling  certain  that  such  a  being  as  he  expected  in 
a  daughter  of  the  dissolute  Lanzknecht  Sorel  would 
soon,  by  dexterous  questioning,  be  made  to  expose 
the  futility  of  her  pretensions  so  flagrantly  that 


134  DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

even  Kunigunde  could  not  attempt  to  maintain 
them. 

For  one  moment  Kunigunde  hesitated,  but  sud- 
denly a  look  of  malignant  satisfaction  crossed  her 
face.  She  spoke  a  few  words  to  Squinting  Matz, 
and  then  replied  that  Sir  Kasimir  should  be  allowed 
to  satisfy  himself,  but  that  she  could  admit  no  one 
else  into  the  castle ;  hers  was  a  widow's  household, 
the  twins  were  only  a  few  hours  old,  and  she  could 
not  open  her  gates  to  admit  any  person  beside  him- 
self. 

So  resolved  on  judging  for  himself  was  Adlerstein 
"Wildschloss  that  all  this  did  not  stagger  him  ;  for, 
even  if  he  had  believed  more  than  he  did  of  the  old 
lady's  story,  there  would  have  been  no  sense  of  in- 
trusion or  impropriety  in  such  a  visit  to  the  mother. 
Indeed,  had  Christina  been  liviijg  in  the  civilized 
world,  her  chamber  would  have  been  hung  with 
black  cloth,  black  velvet  would  have  enveloped  her 
up  to  the  eyes,  and  the  blackest  of  cradles  would 
have  stood  ready  for  her  fatherless  babe.  Two 
steps,  in  honor  of  her  baronial  rank,  would  have  led 
to  her  bed,  and  a  beaufet  with  the  due  baronial 
amount  of  gold  and  silver  plate  would  have  held 
the  comfits  and  caudle  to  be  dispensed  to  all  visit- 
ors. As  it  was,  the  two  steps  built  into  the  floor 
of  the  room,  and  the  black  hood  that  Ursel  tied 
over  her  young  mistress'  head,  were  the  only  traces 
that  such  etiquette  had  ever  been  heard  of. 

But  when  Baron  Kasimir  had  clanked  up  the  tur- 
ret stairs,  each  step  bringing  to  her  many  a  memory 


DOVB  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  135 

of  him  who  should  have  been  there,  and  when  he 
had  been  led  to  the  bedside,  he  was  completely 
taken  by  surprise. 

Instead  of  the  great,  flat-faced,  coarse  comeliness 
of  a  German  wench,  treated  as  a  lady  in  order  to 
deceive  him,  he  saw  a  delicate,  lily-like  face,  white 
as  ivory,  and  the  soft,  sweet  brown  eyes  under  their 
drooping  lashes,  so  full  of  innocence  and  sad  though 
thankful  content,  that  he  felt  as  if  the  inquiries  he 
came  to  make  were  almost  sacrilege. 

He  had  seen  enough  of  the  world  to  know  that  no 
agent  in  a  clumsy  imposition  would  look  like  this 
pure  white  creature,  with  her  arm  encircling  the  two 
little  swaddled  babes,  whose  red  faces  and  bald 
heads  alone  were  allowed  to  appear  above  their 
mummy-like  wrappings  ;  and  he  could  only  make  an 
obeisance  lower  and  infinitely  more  respectful  than 
that  with  which  he  had  favored  the  Baroness  nee 
von  Adlerstein,  with  a  few  words  of  inquiry  and 
apology. 

But  Christina  had  her  sons'  rights  to  defend  now, 
and  she  had  far  more  spirit  to  do  so  than  ever  she 
had  had  in  securing  her  own  position,  and  a  delicate 
rose  tint  came  into  her  cheek  as  she  said  in  her  soft 
voice,  "  The  baroness  tells  me,  that  you,  noble  sir, 
would  learn  who  wedded  me  to  my  dear  and  blessed 
lord.  Sir  Eberhard.  It  was  Friar  Peter  of  the  Fran- 
ciscan brotherhood  of  Offingen,  an  agent  for  selling 
indulgences.  Two  of  his  lay  brethren  were  present. 
My  dear  lord  gave  his  own  name  and  mine  in  full 
after  the  holy  rite ;  the  friar  promising  his  testimony 


136  DOVE  m  THE  EAGLE'S  NB8T. 

if  it  were  needed.  He  is  to  be  found,  or  at  least 
heard  of,  at  his  own  cloister  ;  and  the  Jiermit  at  the 
chapel  likewise  beheld  a  part  of  the  ceremony." 

*'  Enough,  enough,  lady,"  replied  Sir  Kasimir ; 
"forgive  me  for  having  forced  the  question  upon 
you." 

"  Nay,"  replied  Christina,  with  her  blush  deepen- 
ing, "  it  is  but  just  and  due  to  us  all ; "  and  her  soft 
eyes  had  a  gleam  of  exultation,  as  she  looked  at  the 
two  little  mummies  that  made  up  the  us — "  I  would 
have  all  inquiries  made  in  full." 

"  They  shall  be  made,  lady,  as  will  be  needful  for 
the  establishment  of  your  son's  right  as  a  free  baron 
of  the  empire,  but  not  with  any  doubt  on  my  part, 
or  desire  to  controvert  that  right.  I  am  fully  con- 
vinced, and  only  wish  to  serve  you  and  my  little 
cousins.  Which  of  them  is  the  head  of  our  family  ?  " 
he  added,  looking,  at  the  two  absolutely  undistin- 
guishable  little  chrysalises,  so  exactly  aHke  that 
Christina  herself  was  obliged  to  look  for  the  black 
ribbon,  on  which  a  medal  had  been  hung,  round  the 
neck  of  the  elder.  Sir  Kasimir  put  one  knee  to  the 
ground  as  he  kissed  the  red  cheek  of  the  infant  and 
the  white  hand  of  the  mother. 

"  Lady  cousin,"  he  said  to  Kunigunde,  who  had 
stood  by  all  this  time  with  an  anxious,  uneasy, 
scowling  expression  on  her  face,  "  I  am  satisfied.  I 
own  this  babe  as  the  true  Freiherr  von  Adlerstein, 
and  far  be  it  from  me  to  trouble  his  heritage.  Eather 
point  out  the  way  in  which  I  may  serve  you  and 
him.     Shall  I  represent  all  to  the  emperor,  and  ob- 


DO  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  13? 

tain  his  wardship,  so  as  to  be  able  to  protect  you 
from  any  attacks  by  the  enemies  of  the  house  ? " 

"  Thanks,  sir,"  returned  the  elder  lady,  severely, 
seeing  Christina's  gratified,  imploring  face.  "  The 
right  line  of  Adlerstein  can  take  care  of  itself  with- 
out greedy  guardians  appointed  by  usurpers.  Our 
submission  has  never  been  made,  and  the  emperor 
cannot  dispose  of  our  wardship." 

And  Kunigunde  looked  defiant,  regarding  herself 
and  her  grandson  as  quite  as  good  as  the  emperor, 
and  ready  to  blast  her  daughter-in-law  with  her 
eyes  for  murmuring  gratefully  and  wistfully, 
"  Thanks,  noble  sir,  thanks  ! " 

"  Let  me  at  last  win  a  friendly  right  in  my  young 
cousins,"  said  Sir  Kasimir,  the  more  drawn  by  pity- 
ing admiration  toward  their  mother,  as  he  perceived 
more  of  the  grandmother's  haughty  repulsiveness 
and  want  of  comprehension  of  the  dangers  of  her 
position.  "  They  are  not  baptized  ?  Let  me  become 
their  godfather. 

Christina's  face  was  all  joy  and  gratitude,  and 
even  the  grandmother  made  no  objection ;  in  fact,  it 
was  the  babes'  only  chance  of  a  noble  sponsor  ;  and 
Father  J^orbert,  who  had  already  been  making 
ready  for  the  baptism  was  sent  for  from  the  hall. 
Kunigunde,  meantime,  moved  about  restlessly,  went 
half-way  down  the  stairs,  and  held  council  with  some 
one  there ;  Ursel  likewise,  bustled  about,  and  Sir 
Kasimir  remained  seated  on  the  chair  that  had  been 
placed  for  him  near  Christina's  bed. 

She  was  able  again  to  thank  him,  and  add,  "  It 


138  DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE' 8  NEST. 

may  be  that  you  will  have  more  cause  than  the  lady 
grandmother  thinks  to  remember  your  offer  of  pro- 
tection to  my  poor  orphans.  Their  father  and 
grandfather  were,  in  very  deed,  on  their  way  to 
make  submission." 

"  That  is  well  known  to  me,"  said  Sir  Kasimir. 
"  Lady,  I  will  do  all  in  my  power  for  you.  The 
emperor  shall  hear  the  state  of  things  ;  and,  while 
no  violence  is  offered  to  travelers,"  he  added,  lower- 
ing his  tone,  "  I  doubt  not  he  will  wait  for  full  sub- 
mission till  this  young  baron  be  of  age  to  tender  it." 

"  We  are  scarce  in  force  to  offer  violence,"  said 
Christina  sighing.  "  I  have  no  power  to  withstand 
the  lady  baroness.  I  am  like  a  stranger  here  ;  but, 
oh !  sir,  if  the  emperor  aod  Diet  will  be  patient  and 
forbearing  with  this  desolate  house,  my  babes,  if 
they  live,  shall  strive  to  requite  their  mercy  by 
loyalty.  And  the  blessing  of  the  widow  and  father- 
less will  fall  on  you,  most  generous  knight,"  she 
added,  fervently,  holding  out  her  hand. 

"  I  would  I  could  do  more  for  you,"  said  the 
knight.     "  Ask,  and  all  I  can  do  is  at  your  service." 

"  Ah,  sir,"  cried  Christina,  her  eyes  brightening, 
"  there  is  one  most  inestimable  service  you  could 
render  me — to  let  my  uncle.  Master  Gottfried,  the 
wood-carver  of  Ulm,  know  where  I  am,  and  of  my 
state,  and  of  ray  children." 

Sir  Kasimir  repeated  the  name. 

"  Yes,"  she  said.  "  There  was  my  home,  there 
was  I  brought  up  by  my  dear  uncle  and  aunt,  till  my 
father  bore  me  away  to  attend  on  the  young  lady 


DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  139 

here.  It  is  eighteen  months  since  they  had  any  tid- 
ings from  her  who  was  as  a  daughter  to  them." 

"  I  will  see  them  myself,"  said  Kasimir  ;  "  I  know 
the  name.  Carved  not  Master  Gottfried  the  stall- 
work  at  Augsburg  ? " 

"  Yes,  indeed !  In  chestnut  leaves !  And  the 
Misereres  all  with  fairy  tales  !  "  exclaimed  Christina. 
**  Oh,  sir,  thanks  indeed !  Bear  to  the  dear,  dear 
uncle  and  aunt  their  child's  duteous  greetings,  and 
tell  them  she  loves  them  with  all  her  heart,  and 
prays  them  to  forgive  her,  and  to  pray  for  her  and 
her  little  ones  !  And,"  she  added,  "  my  uncle  may 
not  have  learned  how  his  brother,  my  father,  died 
by  his  lord's  side.  Oh !  pray  him,  if  ever  he  loved 
his  little  Christina,  to  have  masses  sung  for  my 
father  and  my  own  dear  lord." 

As  she  promised,  Ursel  came  to  make  the  babes 
ready  for  their  baptism,  and  Sir  Kasimir  moved 
away  toward  the  window.  Ursel  was  looking 
uneasy  and  dismayed,  and,  as  she  bent  over  her  mis- 
tress, she  whispered,  "  Lady,  the  schneiderlein  sends 
you  word  that  Matz  has  called  him  to  help  in  remov- 
ing the  props  of  the  door  you  wot  of  when  he  yonder 
steps  across  it.     He  would  know  if  it  be  your  will  ? " 

"  The  oubliette ! "  This  was  Frau  Kunigunde's 
usage  of  the  relative  who  was  doing  his  best  for  the 
welfare  of  her  grandsons  !  Christina's  whole  coun- 
tenance looked  so  frozen  with  horror,  that  Ursel  felt 
as  if  she  had  killed  her  on  the  spot ;  but  the  next 
moment  a  flash  of  relief  came  over  the  pale  features, 
and  the  trembling  lip  commanded  itself  to  say, "  My 


140  I>0  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE '8  NEST. 

best  thanks  to  good  Heinz  !  Say  to  him  that  I  for^ 
bid  it.  If  he  loves  the  life  of  his  master's  children, 
he  will  abstain !  Tell  him  so.  My  blessings  on  him 
if  this  knight  leave  the  castle  safe,  Ursel."  And 
her  terrified  earnest  eyes  impelled  Ursel  to  hasten  to 
do  her  bidding ;  but  whether  it  had  been  executed, 
there  was  no  knowing,  for  almost  immediately  the 
freiherrinn  and  Father  Norbert  entered,  and  Ursel 
returned  with  them.  IS'ay,  the  message  given,  who 
could  tell  if  Heinz  would  be  able  to  act  upon  it  ?  In 
the  ordinary  condition  of  the  castle,  he  was  indeed 
its  most  eflScient  inmate ;  Matz  did  not  approach  him 
in  strength,  Hans  was  a  cripple,  Hatto  would  be  on 
the  right  side ;  but  Jobst  the  kohler,  and  the  other 
serfs  who  had  been  called  in  for  the  defense,  were 
more  likely  to  hold  with  the  elder  than  the  younger 
lady.  And  Frau  Kunigunde  herself,  knowing  well 
that  the  five-and-twenty  men  outside  would  be  in- 
competent to  avenge  their  master,  confident  in  her 
narrow-minded,  ignorant  pride  that  no  one  could 
take  Schloss  Adlerstein,  and  incapable  of  under- 
standing the  changes  in  society  that  were  rendering 
her  isolated  condition  untenable,  was  certain  to  scout 
any  representation  of  the  dire  consequences  that  the 
crime  would  entail.  Kasirair  had  no  near  kindred, 
and  private  revenge  was  the  only  justice  the  baroness 
believed  in  ;  she  only  saw  in  her  crime  the  satisfac- 
tion of  an  old  feud,  and  the  union  of  the  Wildschloss 
property  with  the  parent  stem. 

Seldom  could  such  a  christening  have  taken  place 
as  that  of  which  Christina's  bedroom  was  the  scene 


DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  141 

— the  mother  scarcely  able  even  to  think  of  the  holy 
sacrament  for  the  horror  of  knowing  that  the  one 
sponsor  was  already  exulting  in  the  speedy  destruc- 
tion of  the  other ;  and,  poor  little  feeble  thing,  ral- 
lying the  last  remnants  of  her  severely-tried  powers 
to  prevent  the  crime  at  the  most  terrible  of  risks. 

The  elder  babe  received  from  his  grandmother  the 
hereditary  name  of  Eberhard,  but  Sir  Kasimir 
looked  at  the  mother  inquiringly,  ere  he  gave  the 
other  to  the  priest.  Christina  had  well-nigh  said, 
"  Oubliette,"  but,  recalling  herself  in  time,  she 
feebly  uttered  the  name  she  had  longed  after  from 
the  moment  she  had  known  that  two  sons  had 
been  her  Easter  gift,  "  Gottfried,"  after  her  beloved 
uncle.  But  Kunigunde  caught  the  sound,  and 
exclaimed,  "  No  son  of  Adlerstein  shall  bear  a  base 
craftsman's  name.  Call  him  Eacher  (the  avenger); " 
and  in  the  word  there  already  rang  a  note  of  vic- 
tory and  revenge  that  made  Christina's  blood  run 
cold.  Sir  Kasimir  marked  her  trouble.  "  The  lady 
mother  loves  not  the  sound,"  he  said,  kindly.  "  Lady, 
have  you  any  other  wish?  Then  will  I  call  him 
Friedmund." 

Christina  had  almost  smiled.  To  her  the  omen 
was  of  the  best.  Baron  Friedmund  had  been  the  last 
common  ancestor  of  the  tw^o  branches  of  the  family, 
the  patron  saint  was  so  called,  his  wake  was  her 
wedding-day,  the  sound  of  the  word  imported  peace, 
and  the  good  Barons  Ebbo  and  Friedel  had  ever 
been  linked  together  lovingly  by  popular  memory. 
And  so  the  second  little  baron  received  the  name  of 


142  DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

Friedraund,  and  then  the  knight  of  Wildschloss, 
perceiving,  with  consideration  rare  in  a  warrior,  that 
the  mother  looked  worn  out  and  feverish,  at  once 
prepared  to  kiss  her  hand  and  take  leave. 

"  One  more  favor,  sir  knight,"  she  said,  lifting  up 
her  head,  while  a  burning  spot  rose  on  either  cheek. 
"  I  beg  of  you  to  take  my  two  babes  down — yes, 
both,  both,  in  your  own  arms,  and  show  them  to 
your  men,  owning  them  as  your  kinsmen  and  god- 
sons." 

Sir  Kasimir  looked  exceedingly  amazed,  as  if  he 
thought  the  lady's  senses  taking  leave  of  her,  and 
Dame  Kunigunde  broke  out  into  declarations  that 
it  was  absurd,  and  she  did  not  know  what  she  was 
talking  of ;  but  she  repeated  almost  with  passion, 
"  Take  them,  take  them,  you  know  not  how  much  de- 
pends on  it."  Ursel,  with  unusual  readiness  of  wit, 
signed  and  whispered  that  the  young  mother  must 
be  humored,  for  fear  of  consequences;  till  the 
knight,  in  a  good-natured,  confused  way,  submitted 
to  receive  the  two  little  bundles  in  his  arms,  while 
he  gave  place  to  Kunigunde,  who  hastily  stepped 
before  him  in  a  manner  that  made  Christina  trust 
that  her  precaution  would  be  effectual. 

The  room  was  reeling  round  with  her.  The 
agony  of  those  few  minutes  was  beyond  all  things 
unspeakable.  What  had  seemed  just  before  like  a 
certain  way  of  saving  the  guest  without  real  danger 
to  her  children,  now  appeared  instead  the  most  cer- 
tain destruction  to  all,  and  herself  the  unnatural 
mother  who  had  doomed  her  new-born  babes  for  a 


BO  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE' 8  NEST.  143 

stranger's  sake.  She  could  not  even  pray ;  slie 
would  have  shrieked  to  have  them  brought  back, 
but  her  voice  was  dead  within  her,  her  tongue  clave 
to  the  roof  of  her  mouth,  ringings  in  her  ears  hin- 
dered her  even  from  listening  to  the  descending 
Steps.  She  lay  as  one  dead,  when  ten  minutes 
afterward  the  cry  of  one  of  her  babes  struck  on 
her  ear,  and  the  next  moment  Ursel  stood  beside 
her,  laying  them  down  close  to  her,  and  saying 
exultingly,  "  Safe !  safe  out  at  the  gate,  and  down 
the  hillside,  and  my  old  lady  ready  to  gnaw  off  her 
hands  for  spite ! " 


144  I>0  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NE8T. 


CHAPTEE   IX. 

THE   EAGLETS. 

Christina's  mental  and  bodily  constitution  had 
much  similarity — apparently  most  delicate,  tender, 
and  timid,  yet  capable  of  a  vigor,  health,  and  en- 
durance that  withstood  shocks  that  might  have  been 
fatal  to  many  apparently  stronger  persons.  The 
events  of  that  frightful  Easter  Monday  morning 
did  indeed  almost  kill  her ;  but  the  effects,  though 
severe,  were  not  lasting ;  and  by  the  time  the  last 
of  Ermentrude's  snow-wreath  had  vanished,  she 
was  sunning  her  babes  at  the  window,  happier  than 
sbe  had  ever  thought  to  be — above  all,  in  the  pos- 
session of  both  the  children.  A  nurse  had  been 
captured  for  the  little  baron  from  the  village  on  the 
hillside  ;  but  the  woman  had  fretted,  the  child  had 
pined,  and  had  been  given  back  to  his  mother  to 
save  his  life ;  and  ever  since  both  had  thriven  per- 
fectly under  her  sole  care,  so  that  there  was  very 
nearly  joy  in  that  room. 

Outside  it,  there  was  more  bitterness  than  ever. 
The  grandmother  had  softened  for  a  few  moments 
at  the  birth  of  the  children,  with  satisfaction  at  ob- 
taining twice  as  much  as  she  had  hoped ;  but  the 
frustration  of  her  vengeance  upon  Kasimir  of  Adler- 


DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  145 

stein  Wildschloss  had  renewed  all  her  hatred,  and 
she  had  no  scruple  in  abusing  "  the  burgher-woman  " 
to  the  whole  household  for  her  artful  desire  to  cap- 
tivate another  nobleman.  She,  no  doubt,  expected 
that  degenerate  fool  of  aWildschlosser  to  come  woo- 
ing after  her ;  "  if  he  did  he  should  meet  his  deserts." 
It  was  the  favorite  reproach  whenever  she  chose  to 
vent  her  fury  on  the  mute,  blushing,  weeping  young 
widow,  whose  glance  at  her  babies  was  her  only  ap- 
peal against  the  cruel  accusation. 

On  midsummer  eve,  Heinz  the  schneiderlein,  who 
had  been  all  day  taking  toll  from  the  various  attend- 
ants at  the  Friedmund  Wake,  came  up  and  knocked 
at  the  door.  He  had  a  bundle  over  his  shoulder 
and  a  bag  in  his  hand,  which  last  he  offered  to  her. 

"  The  toll !  It  is  for  the  lady  baroness.  You  are 
my  lady  baroness.  I  levy  toll  for  this  my  young 
lord."  * 

"  Take  it  to  her,  good  Heinz,  she  must  have  the 
charge,  and  needless  strife  I  will  not  breed." 

The  angry  notes  of  Dame  Kunigunde  came  up  : 
"  How  now,  knave  schneiderlein !  Come  down 
with  the  toll  instantly.  It  shall  not  be  tampered 
with !     Down,  I  say,  thou  thief  of  a  tailor." 

"  Go ;  prithee  go,  vex  her  not,"  entreated  Chris- 
tina. 

"  Coming,  lady ! "  shouted  Heinz,  and,  disregard- 
ing all  further  objurgations  from  beneath,  he  pro- 
ceeded to  deposit  his  bundle,  and  explain  that  it  had 
been  entrusted  to  him  by  a  peddler  from  Ulm,  who 
would  likewise  take  charge  of  anything  she  might 


146  DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

have  to  send  in  return,  and  he  then  ran  down  just 
in  time  to  prevent  a  domiciliary  visit  from  the  old 
lady. 

From  Ulm !  The  very  sound  was  joy ;  and  Chris- 
tina with  trembling  hands  unfastened  the  cords  and 
stitches  that  secured  the  canvas  covering,  within 
which  lay  folds  upon  folds  of  linen,  and  in  the 
midst  a  rich  silver  goblet,  long  ago  brought  by  her 
father  from  Italy,  a  few  of  her  own  possessions, 
and  a  letter  from  her  uncle  secured  with  black  floss 
silk,  with  a  black  seal. 

She  kissed  it  with  transport,  but  the  contents  were 
somewhat  chilling  by  their  grave  formality.  The 
opening  address  to  the  "  honor- worthy  lady  baroness 
and  love-^vorthy  niece,"  conveyed  to  her  a  doubt  on 
good  Master  Gottfried's  part  whether  she  were  still 
truly  worthy  of  love  or  honor.  The  slaughter  at 
Jacob  Miiller's  had  been  already  known  to  him, 
and  he  expressed  himself  as  relieved,  but 
greatly  amazed,  at  the  informatian  he  had  received 
from  the  baron  of  Adlerstein  Wildschloss,  who  had 
visited  him  at  Ulm,  after  having  verified  what  had 
been  alleged  at  Schloss  Adlerstein  by  application  to 
the  friar  at  Offingen. 

Freiherr  von  Adlerstein  Wildschloss  had  further 
requested  him  to  make  known  that,  feud-briefs  hav- 
ing regularly  p£.ssed  between  Schlangenwald  and 
Adlerstein,  and  the  two  barons  not  having  been 
within  the  peace  of  the  empire,  no  justice  could  be 
exacted  for  their  deaths ;  yet,  in  consideration  of 
the  tender  age  of  the  present  heirs,  the  question  of 


DO  VE  IN  THE  EAQLE*8  NEST.  147 

forfeiture  or  submission  should  be  waived  till  they 
could  act  for  themselves,  and  Schlangenwald  should 
be  withheld  from  injuring  them  so  long  as  no  moles- 
tation was  offered  to  travelers.  It  was  plain  that 
Sir  Kasimir  had  well  and  generously  done  his  best 
to  protect  the  helpless  twins,  and  he  sent  respectful 
but  cordial  greetings  to  their  mother.  These,  how- 
ever, were  far  less  heeded  by  her  than  the  coldness 
of  her  uncle's  letter.  She  had  drifted  beyond  the 
reckoning  of  her  kindred,  and  they  were  sending 
her  her  property  and  bridal  linen,  as  if  they  had 
done  with  her,  and  had  lost  their  child  in  the  rob- 
ber-baron's wife.  Yet  at  the  end  there  was  a  touch 
of  old  times  in  offering  a  blessing,  should  she  still 
value  it,  and  the  hopes  that  heaven  and  the  saints 
would  comfort  her ;  "  for  surely,  thou  poor  child, 
thou  must  have  suffered  much,  and,  if  thou  wiliest 
still  to  write  to  thy  city  kin,  thine  aunt  would  re- 
joice to  hear  that  thou  and  thy  babes  were  in  good 
health." 

Precise  grammarian  and  scribe  as  was  Uncle  Gott- 
f reid,  the  lapse  from  the  formal  sie  to  the  familiar  du 
went  to  his  niece's  heart.  Whenever  her  little  ones 
left  her  any  leisure,  she  spent  this  her  first  wedding- 
day  in  writing  so  earnest  and  loving  a  letter  as,  in 
spite  of  mediaeval  formality,  must  assure  the  good 
burgomaster  that,  except  in  having  suffered  much 
and  loved  much,  his  little  Christina  was  not  changed 
since  she  had  left  him. 

;N'o  answer  could  be  looked  for  till  another  wake- 
day  ;  but,  when  it  came,  it  was  full  and  loving,  and 


148  DO  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST, 

therewith  were  sent  a  few  more  of  her  favorite 
books,  a  girdle,  and  a  richly-scented  pair  of  gloves, 
together  with  two  ivory  boxes  of  comfits,  and  two 
little  purple  silk,  gold-edged,  straight,  narrow  gar- 
ments and  tight  round  brimless  lace  caps,  for  the 
two  little  barons.  JSTor  did  henceforth  a  wake-day 
pass  by  without  bringing  some  such  token,  not  only 
delightful  as  gratifying  Christina's  affection  by  the 
kindness  that  suggested  them,  but  supplying  abso- 
lute wants  in  the  dire  stress  of  poverty  at  Schloss 
Adlerstein. 

Christina  durst  not  tell  her  mother-in-law  of  the 
terms  on  which  they  were  unmolested,  trusting  to 
the  scantiness  of  the  retinue  and  to  her  own  influence 
with  the  schneiderlein  to  hinder  any  serious  violence. 
Indeed,  while  the  Count  of  Schlangenwald  was  in 
the  neighborhood,  his  followers  took  care  to  secure 
all  that  could  be  captured  at  the  Debatable  Ford, 
and  the  broken  forces  of  Adlerstein  would  have 
been  insane  had  they  attempted  to  contend  with 
such  superior  numbers.  That  the  castle  remained 
unattacked  was  attributed  by  the  elder  baroness  to 
its  own  merits ;  nor  did  Christina  undeceive  her. 
They  had  no  intercourse  with  the  outer  world, 
except  that  once  a  pursuivant  arrived  with  a  formal 
intimation  from  their  kinsman,  the  Baron  of  Adler- 
stein Wildschloss,  of  his  marriage  with  the  noble 
fraulein.  Countess  Yaleska  von  Trautbach,  and  a 
present  of  a  gay  dagger  for  each  of  his  godsons. 
Frau  Kunigunde  triumphed  a  good  deal  over  the 
notion  of  Christina's  supposed  disappointment ;  but 


BO  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE '8  NEST.  149 

the  tidings  were  most  welcome  to  the  yomiger  lady, 
who  trusted  they  would  put  an  end  to  all  future 
taunts  about  Wildschloss.  Alas !  the  handle  for 
abuse  was  too  valuable  to  be  relinquished. 

The  last  silver  cup  the  castle  had  possessed  had  to 
be  given  as  a  reward  to  the  pursuivant,  and  mayhap 
Frau  Kunigunde  reckoned  this  as  another  offense  of 
her  daughter-in-law,  since,  had  Sir  Kasimir  been 
safe  in  the  oubliette,  the  twins  might  have  shared 
his  broad  lands  on  the  Danube,  instead  of  contribut- 
ing to  the  fees  of  his  pursuivant.  The  cup  could 
indeed  be  ill  spared.  The  cattle  and  swine,  the  dues 
of  the  serfs,  and  the  yearly  toll  at  the  wake  were 
the  sole  resources  of  the  household ;  and  though 
there  was  no  lack  of  meat,  milk,  and  black  bread, 
sufficient  garments  could  scarce  be  come  by,  with 
all  the  spinning  of  the  household,  woven  by  the 
village  Webster,  of  whose  time  the  baronial  house- 
hold, by  prescriptive  right,  owned  the  lion's  share. 

These  matters  little  troubled  the  two  beings  in 
whom  Christina's  heart  was  wrapped  up.  Though 
running  about  barefooted  and  bareheaded,  they 
were  healthy,  handsome,  straight-hmbed,  noble- 
looking  creatures,  so  exactly  alike,  and  so  inseparable, 
that  no  one  except  herself  could  tell  one  from 
the  other  save  by  the  medal  of  Our  Lady  worn  by 
the  elder,  and  the  little  cross  carved  by  the  mother 
for  the  younger ;  indeed,  at  one  time,  the  urchins 
themselves  would  feel  for  cross  or  medal,  ere  naming 
themselves  "  Ebbo,"  or  "  Friedel."  They  were  tall 
for  their  age,  but  with  the  slender  make  of   their 


150  DOVB  IN  THE  BA  GLE  'S  NEST. 

foreign  ancestry ;  and,  though  their  lair  rosy  com- 
plexions were  brightened  by  mountain  mists  and 
winds,  their  rapidly  darkening  hair,  and  large  liquid 
brown  eyes,  told  of  their  Italian  blood.  Their 
grandmother  looked  on  their  coloring  as  a  taint,  and 
Christina  herself  had  hoped  to  see  their  father's 
simple,  kindly  blue  eyes  revive  in  his  boys ;  but  she 
could  hardly  have  desired  anything  different  from 
the  dancing,  kindling,  or  earnest  glances  that  used 
to  flash  from  under  their  long  black  lashes  when 
they  were  nestling  in  her  lap,  or  playing  by  her 
knee,  making  music  with  their  prattle,  or  listening 
to  her  answers  with  faces  alive  with  intelligence. 
They  scarcely  left  her  time  for  sorrow  or  regret. 

They  were  never  quarrelsome.  Either  from  the 
influence  of  her  gentleness,  or  from  their  absolute 
union,  they  could  do  and  enjoy  nothing  apart,  and 
would  as  soon  have  thought  of  their  right  and  left 
hands  falling  out  as  of  Ebbo  and  Friedel  disputing. 
Ebbo  however,  was  always  the  right  hand.  The 
freiherr,  as  he  had  been  called  from  the  first,  had, 
from  the  time  he  could  sit  at  the  table  at  all,  been 
put  into  the  baronial  chair  with  the  eagle  carved  at 
the  back  ;  every  member  of  the  household,  from  his 
grandmother  downward,  placed  him  foremost,  and 
Friedel  followed  their  example,  at  the  less  loss  to 
himself,  as  his  hand  was  always  in  Ebbo's,  and  all 
their  doings  were  in  common.  Sometimes  however 
the  mother  doubted  whether  there  would  have  been 
this  perfect  absence  of  all  contest  had  the  medal  of 
the  firstborn  chanced  to  hang  round  Friedmund's 


DO  VE  IN  TEU  EAGLE'S  NEST,  151 

neck  instead  of  Eberhard's.  At  first  they  were  en- 
tirely left  to  her.  Their  grandmother  heeded  them 
little  as  long  as  they  were  healthy,  and  evidently 
regarded  them  more  as  heirs  of  Adlerstein  than  as 
grandchildren  ;  but,  as  they  grew  older,  she  showed 
anxiety  lest  their  mother  should  interfere  with 
the  fierce,  lawless  spirit  proper  to  their  line. 

One  winter  day,  when  they  were  nearly  six  years 
old,  Christina,  spinning  at  her  window,  had  been 
watching  them  snowballing  in  the  castle  court, 
smiling  and  applauding  every  large  handful  held  up 
to  her,  every  laughing  combat,  every  well-aimed 
hit,  as  the  hardy  little  fellows  scattered  the  snow  in 
showers  round  them,  raising  their  merry  fur-capped 
faces  to  the  bright  eyes  that  "  rained  influence  and 
judged  the  prize." 

By  and  by  they  stood  still ;  Ebbo — she  knew  him 
by  the  tossed  head  and  commanding  air — was  propos- 
ing what  Friedel  seemed  to  disapprove  ;  but  after  a 
short  discussion,  Ebbo  flung  away  from  him,  and  went 
toward  a  shed  where  was  kept  a  wolf-cub,  recently 
presented  to  the  young  barons  by  old  Ulrich's  son. 
The  whelp  was  so  young  as  to  be  quite  harmless,  but 
it  was  far  from  amiable  ;  Friedel  never  willingly  ap- 
proached it,  and  the  snarling  and  whining  replies  to 
all  advances  had  begun  to  weary  and  irritate  Ebbo. 
He  dragged  it  out  by  its  chain,  and,  tethering  it  to 
a  post,  made  it  a  mark  for  his  snowballs,  which, 
kneaded  hard,  and  delivered  with  hearty  good-will 
by  his  sturdy  arms,  made  the  poor  Uttle  beast  yelp 
with  pain  and  terror,  till  the  more  tender-hearted 


152  I>0  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

Friedel  threw  himself  on  his  brother  to  withhold 
him,  while  Matz  stood  by  laughing  and  applauding 
the  baron.  Seeing  Ebbo  shake  Friedel  off  with  un- 
usual petulance,  and  pitying  the  tormented  animal, 
Christina  flung  a  cloak  round  her  head  and  hastened 
downstairs,  entering  the  court  just  as  the  terrified 
whelp  had  made  a  snap  at  the  boy,  which  was  re- 
turned by  angry,  vindictive  pelting,  not  merely 
with  snow,  but  with  stones.  Friedel  sprang  to  her 
cr^^ng,  and  her  call  to  Ebbo  made  him  turn,  though 
with  fury  in  his  face,  shouting,  "  He  would  bite  me ! 
the  evil  beast !  " 

"  Come  with  me,  Ebbo,"  she  said. 

"He  shall  suffer  for  it,  the  spiteful,  ungrateful 
brute !  Let  me  alone,  mother ! "  cried  Ebbo,  stamp- 
ing on  the  snow,  but  still  from  habit  yielding  to  her 
hand  on  his  shoulder. 

"What  now?"  demanded  the  old  baroness,  ap- 
pearing on  the  scene.  "Who  is  thwarting  the 
baron  ? " 

"She;  she  will  not  let  me  deal  with  yonder 
savage  whelp,"  cried  the  boy. 

"  She  !  Take  thy  way,  child,"  said  the  old  lady. 
"  Yisit  him  well  for  his  malice.  None  shall  with- 
stand thee  here.  At  thy  peril !  "  she  added,  turn- 
ing on  Christina.  "  What,  art  not  content  to  have 
brought  base  mechanical  blood  into  a  noble  house  ? 
Wouldst  make  slaves  and  cowards  of  its  sons  ? " 

"  I  would  teach  them  true  courage,  not  cruelty," 
she  tried  to  say. 

"  What  should  such  as  thou  know  of  courage  ? 


DO  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  153 

Look  here,  girl ;  another  word  to  daunt  the  spirit  of 
my  grandsons,  and  I'll  have  thee  scourged  down 
the  mountain-side !  On !  At  him,  Ebbo !  That's 
my  gallant  young  knight !  Out  of  the  way,  girl, 
with  thy  whining  looks  !  What,  Friedel,  be  a  man, 
and  aid  thy  brother !  Has  she  made  thee  a  puling 
woman  already  ? "  And  Kunigunde  laid  an  ungen- 
tle grasp  upon  Friedmund,  who  was  clinging  to  his 
mother,  hiding  his  face  in  her  gown.  He  struggled 
against  the  clutch,  and  would  not  look  up  or  be 
detached. 

"  Fie,  poor  little  coward ! "  taunted  the  old  lady ; 
"  never  heed  him,  Ebbo,  my  brave  baron ! " 

Cut  to  the  heart,  Christina  took  refuge  in  her 
room,  and  gathered  her  Friedel  to  her  bosom,  as  he 
sobbed  out,  "  Oh,  mother,  the  poor  little  wolf !  Oh, 
mother,  are  you  weeping  too  ?  The  grandmother 
should  not  so  speak  to  the  sweetest,  dearest  mother- 
ling,"  he  added,  throwing  his  arms  round  her 
neck. 

'^  Alas,  Friedel,  that  Ebbo  should  learn  that  it  is 
brave  to  hurt  the  weak ! " 

"It  is  not  like  Walther  of  Yogelwiede,"  said 
Friedel,  whose  mind  had  been  much  impressed  by 
the  minnesinger's  bequest  to  the  birds. 

"  Nor  like  any  true  Christian  knight.  Alas,  my 
poor  boys,  must  you  be  taught  foul  cruelty  and  I 
too  weak  and  cowardly  to  save  you  ? " 

"  That  never  will  be,"  said  Friedel,  lifting  his 
head  from  her  shoulder.  "  Hark !  what  a  howl  was 
that!" 


154  I>0 VE  IN  THE  EAGLE' 8  NEST, 

"  Listen  not,  dear  child  ;  it  does  but  pain  thee." 

"But  Ebbo  is  not  shouting.  Oh,  mother,  he  is 
vexed — he  is  hurt !  "  cried  Friedel,  springing  from 
her  lap;  but  ere  either  could  reach  the  window, 
Ebbo  had  vanished  from  the  scene.  They  only  saw 
the  young  wolf  stretched  dead  on  the  snow,  and  the 
same  moment  in  burst  Ebbo,  and  flung  himself  on 
the  floor  in  a  passion  of  weeping.  Stimulated  by 
the  applause  of  his  grandmother  and  of  Matz,  he 
had  furiously  pelted  the  poor  animal  with  all  mis- 
siles that  came  to  hand,  till  a  blow,  either  from  him 
or  Matz,  had  produced  such  a  howl  and  struggle  of 
agony,  and  then  such  terrible  stillness,  as  had  gone 
to  the  young  baton's  very  heart,  a  heart  as  soft  as 
that  of  his  father  had  been  by  nature.  Indeed,  his 
sobs  were  so  piteous  that  his  mother  was  relieved  to 
hear  only,  "  The  wolf !  the  poor  wolf  !  "  and  to  find 
that  he  himself  was  unhurt ;  and  she  was  scarcely 
satisfied  of  this  when  Dame  Kunigunde  came  up 
also  alarmed,  and  thus  turned  his  grief  to  wrath. 
"  As  if  I  would  cry  in  that  way  for  a  bite  ! "  he  said. 
"  Go,  grandame ;  you  made  me  do  it,  the  poor 
beast ! "  with  a  fresh  sob. 

"  Ulrich  shall  get  thee  another  cub,  my  child." 

"  No,  no ;  I  never  will  have  another  cub !  Why 
did  you  let  me  kill  it  ?  " 

"  For  shame,  Ebbo !  Weep  for  a  spiteful  brute ! 
That's  no  better  than  thy  mother  or  Friedel." 

"  I  love  my  mother  !  I  love  Friedel !  They  would 
have  withheld  me.     Go,  go ;  I  hate  you ! " 

"Peace,  peace,   Ebbo,"  exclaimed    his    mother; 


DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST,  155 

"you  know  not  what  you  say.  Ask  your  grand- 
mother's pardon." 

"  Peace,  thou  fool ! "  screamed  the  old  lady. 
"  The  baron  speaks  as  he  will  in  his  own  castle.  He 
is  not  to  be  checked  here,  and  thwarted  there,  and 
taught  to  mince  his  words  like  a  cap-in-hand  peddler. 
Pardon!  When  did  an  Adlerstein  seek  pardon? 
Come  with  me,  my  baron ;  I  have  still  some  honey- 
cakes." 

"Not  I,"  replied  Ebbo;  "honey-cakes  will  not 
cure  the  wolf  whelp.  Go  :  I  want  my  mother  and 
Friedel." 

Alone  with  them  his  pride  and  passion  were  gone ; 
but  alas !  what  augury  for  the  future  of  her  boys 
was  left  with  the  mother  1 


156  DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST, 


CHAPTEE  X. 


*'It  fell  about  the  Lammas  tide, 
When  moor  men  win  their  hay," 

that  all  tlie  serfs  of  Adlerstein  were  collected  to  col- 
lect their  lady's  hay  to  be  stored  for  the  winter's 
fodder  of  the  goats,  and  of  poor  Sir  Eberhard's  old 
white  mare,  the  only  steed  as  yet  ridden  by  the 
young  barons. 

The  boys  were  fourteen  years  old.  So  monot- 
onous was  their  mother's  life  that  it  was  chiefly 
their  growth  that  marked  the  length  of  her  residence 
in  the  castle.  Otherwise  there  had  been  no  change, 
except  that  the  elder  baroness  was  more  feeble  in 
her  limbs,  and  still  more  irritable  and  excitable  in 
temper.  There  were  no  events,  save  a  few  hunting 
adventures  of  the  boys,  or  the  yearly  correspondence 
with  Ulm ;  aud  the  same  life  continued,  of  shrink- 
ing in  dread  from  the  old  lady's  tyrannous  dislike, 
and  of  the  constant  endeavor  to  infuse  better  prin- 
ciples into  the  boys,  without  the  open  opposition  for 
which  there  was  neither  power  nor  strength. 

The  boys'  love  was  entirely  given  to  their  mother. 
Far  from  diminishing  with  their  dependence  on  her, 
it  increased  with  the  sense  of  protection ;  and,  now 


DO  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE' 8  NEST.  I57 

that  they  were  taller  than  herself,  she  seemed  to  be 
cherished  by  them  more  than  ever.  Moreover,  she 
was  their  oracle.  Quick-witted  and  active-minded, 
loving  books  the  more  because  their  grandmother 
thought  signing  a  feud-letter  the  utmost  literary 
effort  becoming  to  a  noble,  they  never  rested  till 
they  had  acquired  all  that  their  mother  could 
teach  them ;  or,  rather,  they  then  became  more  rest- 
less than  ever.  Long  ago  had  her  whole  store  of 
tales  and  ballads  become  so  familiar,  by  repetition, 
that  the  boys  could  correct  her  in  the  smallest  varia- 
tion; reading  and  writing  were  mastered  as  for 
pleasure ;  and  the  "Nuremberg  Chronicle,"  with  its 
wonderful  woodcuts,  excited  such  a  passion  of  curi- 
osity that  they  must  needs  conquer  its  Latin  and 
read  it  for  themselves.  This  "World  History,"  with 
"Alexander  and  the  Nine  Worthies,"  the  cities  and 
landscapes,  and  the  oft-repeated  portraits,  was 
Eberhard's  study;  but  Friedmund  continued  con- 
stant to  Walther  of  Yogelweide.  Eberhard  cared 
for  no  character  in  the  Yulgate  so  much  as  for  Judas 
the  Maccabee ;  but  Friedmund's  heart  was  all  for 
King  David  ;  and  to  both  lads,  shut  up  from  com- 
panionship as  they  were,  every  acquaintance  in 
their  books  was  a  living  being  whose  like  they  fan- 
cied might  be  met  beyond  their  mountain.  And, 
when  they  should  go  forth,  like  Dietrich  of  Berne, 
in  search  of  adventures,  doughty  deeds  were  chiefly 
to  fall  to  the  lot  of  Ebbo's  lance ;  while  Friedel  was 
to  be  their  minnesinger ;  and  indeed  certain  verses, 
that  he  had  murmured  in  his  brother's  ear,  had  left 


168  DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NESl. 

no  doubt  in  Ebbo's  mind  that  the  exploits  would  be 
worthily  sung. 

The  soft  dreamy  eye  was  becoming  Friedel's  char- 
acteristic, as  fire  and  keenness  distinguished  his 
brother's  glance.  When  at  rest,  the  twins  could  be 
known  apart  by  their  expression,  though  in  all  other 
respects  they  were  as  alike  as  ever ;  and  let  Ebbo 
look  thoughtful  or  Friedel  eager  and  they  were  again 
undistinguishable ;  and  indeed  they  were  constantly 
changing  looks.  Had  not  Friedel  been  beside  him, 
Ebbo  would  have  been  deemed  a  wondrous  student  for 
his  years  ;  had  not  Ebbo  been  the  standard  of  com- 
parison, Friedel  would  have  been  in  high  repute 
for  spirit  and  enterprise  and  skiV.  as  a  cragsman, 
with  the  crossbow,  and  in  all  f  :ats  of  arms  that 
the  schneiderlein  could  impart.  They  shared  all 
occupations ;  and  it  was  by  the  merest  shade  that 
Ebbo  excelled  with  the  weapon,  and  Friedel  with 
the  book  or  tool.  For  the  artist  nature  was  in  them, 
not  intentionally  excited  by  their  mother,  but  far 
too  strong  to  be  easily  discouraged.  They  had 
long  daily  gazed  at  Ulm  in  the  distance,  hoping  to 
behold  the  spire  completed ;  and  the  illustrations 
in  their  mother's  books  excited  a  strong  desire  to 
imitate  them.  The  floor  had  often  been  covered 
with  charcoal  outlines  even  before  Christina  was  per- 
suaded to  impart  the  rules  she  had  learned  from  her 
uncle ;  and  her  carving-tools  were  soon  seized  upon. 
At  first  they  were  used  only  upon  knobs  of  sticks ; 
but  one  day  when  the  boys,  roaming  on  the  moun- 
tain, had  lost  their  way,  and  coming  to  the  convent 


DOVE  IN  TEE  EAGLE'S  NEST  159 

had  been  there  hospitably  welcomed  by  Father 
Norbert,  they  came  home  wild  to  make  carvings  like 
what  they  had  seen  in  the  chapel.  Jobst  the  kohler 
was  continually  importuned  for  soft  wood ;  the  fair 
was  ransacked  for  knives ;  and  even  the  old  baron- 
ess could  not  find  great  fault  with  the  occupation, 
base  and  mechanical  though  it  were,  which  disposed 
of  the  two  restless  spirits  during  the  many  hours 
when  winter  storms  confined  them  to  the  castle. 
Rude  as  was  their  work,  the  constant  observation 
and  choice  of  subjects  were  an  unsuspected  training 
and  softening.  It  was  not  in  vain  that  they  lived 
in  the  glorious  mountain  fastness,  and  saw  the  sun 
descend  in  his  majesty,  dyeing  the  masses  of  rock 
with  purple  and  crimson  ;  not  in  vain  that  they  be- 
held peak  and  ravine  clothed  in  purest  snow,  flushed 
mth  rosy  light  at  morn  and  eve,  or  contrasted  with 
the  purple  blue  of  the  sky ;  or  that  they  stood  mar- 
veling at  ice  caverns  with  gigantic  crystal  pendants 
shining  with  the  most  magical  pure  depths  of 
sapphire  and  emerald,  "  as  if,"  said  Friedel,  "  winter 
kept  in  his  service  all  the  jewel-forging  dwarfs  of  the 
motherling's  tales."  And,  when  the  snow  melted 
and  the  buds  returned,  the  ivy  spray,  the  smiling 
saxifrage,  the  purple  gentian  bell,  the  feathery 
rowan  leaf,  the  symmetrical  lady's  mantle,  were 
hailed  and  loved  first  as  models,  then  for  themselves. 
One  regret  their  mother  had,  almost  amounting 
to  shame.  Every  virtuous  person  believed  in  the 
eificacy  of  the  rod,  and,  mauger  her  own  docility, 
she  had  been  chastised  with  it  almost  as  a  religious 


160  DO  VE  IN  THE  EA  GLE  '8  NEST. 

duty ;  but  her  sons  had  never  felt  the  weight  of  a 
blow,  except  once  when  their  grandmother  caught 
them  carving  a  border  of  eagles  and  doves  round 
the  hall  table,  and  then  Ebbo  had  returned  the  blow 
with  all  his  might.  As  to  herself,  if  she  ever 
worked  herself  up  to  attempt  chastisement,  the 
baroness  was  sure  to  fall  upon  her  for  insulting  the 
noble  birth  of  her  sons,  and  thus  gave  them  a  tri- 
umph far  worse  for  them  than  impunity.  In  truth, 
the  boys  had  their  own  way,  or  rather  the  baron 
had  his  way,  and  his  way  was  Baron  Friedmund's. 
Poor,  bare,  and  scanty  as  were  all  the  surround- 
ings of  their  life,  everything  was  done  to  feed  their 
arrogance,  with  only  one  influence  to  counteract 
their  education  in  pride  and  violence — a  mother's 
influence,  indeed,  but  her  authority  was  studiously 
taken  from  her,  and  her  position  set  at  naught,  with 
no  power  save  what  she  might  derive  from  their 
love  and  involuntary  honor,  and  the  sight  of  the 
pain  caused  by  their  wrong-doings. 

And  so  the  summer's  hay-harvest  was  come. 
Peasants  clambered  into  the  green  nooks  between  the 
rocks  to  cut  down  with  hook  or  knife  the  flowery 
grass,  for  there  was  no  space  for  the  sweep  of  a 
scythe.  The  best  crop  was  on  the  bank  of  the 
Braunwasser,  by  the  Debatable  Ford,  but  this  was 
cut  and  carried  on  the  backs  of  the  serfs  much  ear- 
lier than  the  mountain  grass,  and  never  without  much 
vigilance  against  the  Schlangenwaldern ;  but  this 
year  the  count  was  absent  at  his  Styrian  castle,  and 
little  had  been  seen  or  heard  of  his  people. 


DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST,  1 61 

The  full  muster  of  serfs  appeared,  for  Fran  Kuni- 
gunde  admitted  of  no  excuses,  and  the  sole  absentee 
was  a  widow  who  lived  on  the  ledge  of  the  moun- 
tain next  above  that  on  which  the  castle  stood. 
Her  son  reported  her  to  be  very  ill,  and  with  tears 
in  his  eyes  entreated  Baron  Freidel  to  obtain  leave 
for  him  to  return  to  her,  since  she  was  quite  alone 
in  her  solitary  hut,  with  no  one  even  to  give  her  a 
drink  of  water.  Friedel  rushed  with  the  entreaty 
to  his  grandmother,  but  she  laughed  it  to  scorn. 
Lazy  Koppel  only  wanted  an  excuse,  or,  if  not,  the 
woman  was  old  and  useless,  and  men  could  not  be 
spared. 

"  Ah !  good  grandame,"  said  Friedel,  "  his  father 
died  with  ours." 

"  The  more  honor  for  him !  The  more  he  is  bound 
to  work  for  us.     Off,  junker,  make  no  loiterers." 

Grieved  and  discomfited,  Friedel  betook  himself  to 
his  mother  and  brother. 

"  Foolish  lad,  not  to  have  come  to  me  ! "  said 
the  young  baron.  "  Where  is  he  ?  I'll  send  him  at 
once." 

But  Christina  interposed  an  offer  to  go  and  take 
Koppel's  place  beside  his  mother,  and  her  skill  was 
so  much  prized  over  aU  the  mountain  side,  that  the 
alternative  was  gratefully  accepted,  and  she  was 
escorted  up  the  steep  path  by  her  two  boys  to  the 
hovel,  where  she  spent  the  day  in  attendance  on  the 
sick  woman. 

Evening  came  on,  the  patient  was  better,  but 
Koppel  did  not  return,  nor  did  the  young  barons 


162  DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

come  to  fetch  their  mother  home.  The  last  sun- 
beams were  dying  off  the  mountain-tops,  and,  be- 
ginning to  suspect  something  amiss,  she  at  length 
set  off,  and  half  way  down  met  Koppel,  who  replied 
to  her  question,  "  Ah,  then,  the  gracious  lady  has 
not  heard  of  our  luck.  Excellent  booty  and  two 
prisoners !  The  young  baron  has  been  a  hero  indeed 
and  has  won  himself  a  knightly  steed."  And,  on 
her  further  interrogation,  he  added,  that  an  unusu- 
ally rich  but  small  company  had  been  reported  by 
Jobst  the  kohler  to  be  on  the  way  to  the  ford,  where 
he  had  skillfully  prepared  a  stumbling-block.  The 
gracious  baroness  had  caused  Hatto  to  jodel  all  the 
haymakers  together,  and  they  had  fallen  on  the 
travelers  by  the  straight  path  down  the  crag. 
"  Ach !  did  not  the  young  baron  spring  like  a  young 
gemsbock?  And  in  midstream  down  came  their 
pack-horses  and  their  wares !  Some  of  them  took 
to  flight,  but,  pfui,  there  were  enough  for  my  young 
lord  to  show  his  mettle  upon.  Such  a  prize  the 
saints  have  not  sent  since  the  old  baron's  time." 

Christina  pursued  her  walk  in  dismay  at  this  new 
beginning  of  freebooting  in  its  worst  form,  over- 
throwing all  her  hopes.  The  best  thing  that  could 
happen  would  be  the  immediate  interference  of  the 
Swabian  League,  while  her  sons  were  too  young  to 
be  personally  held  guilty.  Yet  this  might  involve 
ruin  and  confiscation ;  and,  apart  from  all  conse- 
quences, she  bitterly  grieved  that  the  stain  of  rob- 
bery should  have  fallen  on  her  hitherto  innocent 
sons. 


DO  VB  IN  THE  EA  OLE  '8  NEST.  163 

Every  peasant  she  met  greeted  her  with  praises  of 
their  young  lord,  and,  when  she  mounted  the  hall 
steps,  she  found  the  floor  strewn  with  bales  of 
goods. 

"  Mother,"  cried  Ebbo,  flying  up  to  her,  "  have 
you  heard?  I  have  a  horse!  a  spirited  bay,  a 
knightly  charger,  and  Friedel  is  to  ride  him  by  turns 
with  me.  Where  is  Friedel  ?  And,  mother,  Heinz 
said  I  struck  as  good  a  stroke  as  any  of  them,  and  I 
have  a  sword  for  Friedel  now.  Why  does  he  not 
come  ?  And,  motherling,  this  is  for  you,  a  gown  of 
velvet,  a  real  black  velvet,  that  will  make  you  fairer 
than  our  lady  at  the  convent.  Come  to  the  window 
and  see  it,  mother  dear." 

The  boy  was  so  joyously  excited  that  she  could 
hardly  withstand  his  delight,  but  she  did  not  move. 

"  Don't  you  like  the  velvet  ?  "  he  continued.  "  We 
always  said  that,  the  first  prize  we  won,  the  mother- 
ling  should  wear  velvet.     Do  but  look  at  it." 

"  Woe  is  me,  my  Ebbo  ! "  she  sighed,  bending  to 
kiss  his  brow. 

He  understood  her  at  once,  colored  and  spoke 
hastily  and  in  defiance.  "It  was  in  the  river, 
mother,  the  horses  fell ;  it  is  our  right." 

"  Fairly,  Ebbo  ? "  she  asked  in  a  low  voice. 

"  JS'ay,  mother,  if  Jobst  did  hide  a  branch  in  mid- 
stream, it  was  no  doing  of  mine ;  and  the  horses  fell. 
The  Schlangenwaldern  don't  even  wait  to  let  them 
fall.  We  cannot  live,  if  we  are  to  be  so  nice  and 
dainty." 

"  Ah !  my  son,  I  thought  not  to  hear  you  call 
mercy  and  honesty  mere  niceness." 


164  DO  VE  IN  TEE  EAGLE '8  NEST. 

"  What  do  I  hear  ? "  exclaimed  Frau  Kunigunde, 
entering  from  the  storeroom,  where  she  had  been, 
disposing  of  some  spices,  a  much  esteemed  commod- 
ity. "  Are  you  chiding  and  daunting  this  boy,  as 
you  have  done  with  the  other  ? " 

"My  mother  may  speak  to  me!"  cried  Ebbo, 
hotly,  turning  round. 

"  And  quench  thy  spirit  with  whining  fooleries ! 
Take  the  baron's  bounty,  woman,  and  vex  him  not 
after  his  first  knightly  exploit." 

"  Heaven  knows,  and  Ebbo  knows,"  said  the  trem- 
bling Christina,  "  that,  were  it  a  knightly  exploit,  I 
were  the  first  to  exult." 

"  Thou  ?  thou  craftsman's  girl !  dost  presume  to 
call  in  question  the  knightly  deeds  of  a  noble  house ! 
There ! "  cried  the  furious  baroness,  striking  her  face. 
"  Now !  dare  to  be  insolent  again."  Her  hand  was 
uplifted  for  another  blow,  when  it  was  grasped  by 
Eberhard,  and,  the  next  moment,  he  likewise  held 
the  other  hand,  with  youthful  strength  far  exceeding 
hers.  She  had  often  struck  his  mother  before,  but 
not  in  his  presence,  and  the  greatness  of  the  shock 
seemed  to  make  him  cool  and  absolutely  dignified. 

"  Be  still  grandame,"  he  said.  "  ]S"o,  mother,  I 
am  not  hurting  her,"  and  indeed  the  surprise  seemed 
to  have  taken  away  her  rage  and  volubility,  and 
unresistingly  she  allowed  him  to  seat  her  in  a 
chair.  Still  holding  her  arm,  he  made  his  clear 
boyish  voice  resound  through  the  hall,  saying,  "  Ee- 
tainers  all,  know  that,  as  I  am  your  lord  and  master 
so  is  my  honored  mother  lady  of  the  castle,  and  she 


DOVE  IN  TRE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  165 

is  never  to  be  gainsayed,  let  her  say  or  do  what  she 
will." 

"  You  are  right,  Herr  Freiherr,"  said  Heinz.  "The 
Frau  Christina  is  our  gracious  and  beloved  dame. 
Long  live  the  Freiherrinn  Christina !  "  And  the 
voices  of  almost  all  the  serfs  present  mingled  in  the 
cry. 

"And  hear  you  all,"  continued  Eberhard,  "she 
shall  rule  all,  and  never  be  trampled  on  more. 
Grandame,  you  understand  ? " 

The  old  woman  seemed  confounded,  and  cowered 
in  her  chair  without  speaking.  Christina,  almost 
dismayed  by  this  silence,  would  have  suggested  to 
Ebbo  to  say  something  kind  or  consoling ;  but  at 
that  moment  she  was  struck  with  alarm  by  his  re- 
newed inquiry  for  his  brother. 

"  Friedel !    Was  not  he  with  thee  ? " 

"  ISTo  ;  I  never  saw  him." 

Ebbo  flew  up  the  stairs,  and  shouted  for  his 
brother ;  then,  coming  down,  gave  orders  for  the 
men  to  go  out  on  the  mountain-side,  and  search 
and  jodel.  He  was  hurrying  with  them,  but  his 
mother  caught  his  arm.  "  Oh  Ebbo,  how  can  I 
let  you  go  ?  It  is  dark,  and  the  crags  are  so 
perilous." 

"  Mother,  I  cannot  stay  !  "  and  the  boy  flung  his 
arms  round  her  neck,  and  whispered  in  her  ear, 
"  Friedel  said  it  would  be  a  treacherous  attack,  and 
I  called  him  a  craven.  Oh,  mother,  we  never  parted 
thus  before  !  He  went  up  the  hillside.  Oh,  where 
is  he?" 


166  DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

Infected  by  the  boy's  despairing  voice,  yet  relieved 
that  Friedel  at  least  had  withstood  the  temptation, 
Christina  still  held  Ebbo's  hand,  and  descended  the 
steps  with  him.  The  clear  blue  sky  was  fast  show- 
ing the  stars,  and  into  the  evening  stillness  echoed 
the  loud  wide  jodeln,  cast  back  from  the  other  side 
of  the  ravine.  Ebbo  tried  to  raise  his  voice,  but 
broke  down  in  the  shout,  and,  choked  with  agitation 
said,  "  Let  me  go,  mother.  J^one  know  his  haunts 
as  I  do." 

"  Hark,"  she  said,  only  grasping  him  tighter. 

Thinner,  shriller,  clearer,  came  a  far-away  cry 
from  the  heights,  and  Ebbo  thrilled  from  head  to 
foot,  then  sent  up  another  pealing  mountain  shout, 
responded  to  by  a  jodel  so  pitched  as  to  be 
plainly  not  an  echo.  "  Toward  the  Red  Eyrie," 
said  Hans. 

"He  win  have  been  to  the  Ptarmigan's  Pool," 
said  Ebbo,  sending  up  his  voice  again,  in  hopes  that 
the  answer  would  sound  less  distant;  but  instead 
of  this,  its  intonations  conveyed,  to  these  adepts 
in  mountain  language,  that  Friedel  stood  in  need  of 
help. 

"  Depend  upon  it,"  said  the  startled  Ebbo,  "  that  he 
has  got  up  among  those  rocks  where  the  dead  cham- 
ois rolled  down  last  summer ; "  then,  as  Christina 
uttered  a  faint  cry  of  terror,  Heinz  added,  "  Fear 
not,  lady,  those  are  not  the  jodeln  of  one  who  has 
met  with  a  hurt.  Baron  Friedel  has  the  sense  to  be 
patient  rather  than  risk  his  bones  if  he  cannot  move 
safely  in  the  dark." 


DOVE  IN  TUB  EAGLE'S  NEST,  167 

"  Up  after  him,"  said  Ebbo,  emitting  a  variety  of 
shouts  intimating  speedy  aid,  and  receiving  a  halloo 
in  reply  that  reassured  even  his  mother.  Equipped 
with  a  rope  and  sundry  torches  of  pine  wood,  Heinz 
and  two  of  the  serfs  were  speedily  ready,  and 
Christina  implored  her  son  to  let  her  come  so  far 
as  where  she  should  not  impede  the  others.  He 
gave  her  his  arm,  and  Heinz  held  his  torch  so  as  to 
guide  her  up  a  winding  path,  not  in  itself  very  steep 
but  which  she  could  never  have  climbed  had  day- 
light shown  her  what  it  overhung.  Guided  by  the 
constant  exchange  of  jodeln,  they  reached  a  height 
where  the  wind  blew  cold  and  wild,  and  Ebbo 
pointed  to  an  intensely  black  shadow  overhung  by 
a  peak  rising  like  the  gable  of  a  house  into  the  sky. 
"  Yonder  lies  the  tarn,"  he  said.  "  Don't  stir. 
This  way  lies  the  cliif  Fried — mund  ! "  exchanging 
the  jodel  for  the  name. 

"  Here  ! — this  way!  Under  the  Ked  Eyrie,"  called 
back  the  wanderer ;  and  steering  their  course  round 
the  rocks  above  the  pool,  the  rescuers  made  their  way 
toward  the  base  of  the  peak,  which  was  in  fact  the 
summit  of  the  mountain,  the  top  of  the  Eagle's  Lad- 
der, the  highest  step  of  which  they  had  attained. 
The  peak  towered  over  them,  and  beneath,  the  castle 
lights  seemed  as  if  it  would  be  easy  to  let  a  stone 
fall  straight  down  on  them. 

Friedel's  cry  seemed  to  come  from  under  their  feet. 
"  I  am  here !  I  am  safe ;  only  it  grew  so  dark  that 
I  durst  not  climb  up  or  down." 

The  schneiderlein  explained  that  he  would  lower 


168  DOVE  IN  THE  SA QLE 'S  NEBT. 

down  a  rope,  which,  when  fastened  round  Friedel's 
waist,  would  enable  him  to  climb  safely  up ;  and, 
after  a  breathless  space,  the  torchlight  shown  upon 
the  longed-for  face,  and  Friedel,  springing  on  the 
path,  cried,  "  The  mother ! — and  here ! " 

"  Oh,  Friedel,  where  have  you  been  ?  What  is  this 
in  your  arms  ?  " 

He  showed  them  the  innocent  face  of  a  little  white 
kid. 

"Whence  is  it,  Friedel?" 

He  pointed  to  the  peak,  saying,  "  I  was  lying  on 
my  back  by  the  tarn,  when  my  lady  eagle  came 
sailing  overhead,  so  low  that  I  could  see  this  poor, 
little  thing,  and  hear  it  bleat." 

**  Thou  hast  been  to  the  eyrie — the  inaccessible 
eyrie  ! "  exclaimed  Ebbo,  in  amazement. 

"  That's  a  mistake.  It  is  not  hard  after  the  first," 
said  Friedel.  "  I  only  waited  to  watch  the  old  birds 
out  again." 

"  Kobbed  the  eagles !    And  the  young  ones  ? " 

"  Well,"  said  Friedmund,  as  if  half  ashamed,"  they 
were  twin  eaglets,  and  their  mother  had  left  them, 
and  I  felt  as  though  I  could  not  harm  them  ;  so  I  only 
bore  off  their  provisions,  and  stuck  some  feathers  in 
my  cap.  But  by  that  time  the  sun  was  down,  and 
soon  I  could  not  see  my  footing ;  and,  when  I  found 
that  I  had  missed  the  path,  I  thought  I  had  best 
nestle  in  the  nook  where  I  was,  and  wait  for  day. 
I  grieved  for  my  mother's  fear ;  but  oh,  to  see  her 
here ! " 

"Ah,  Friedel!  didst  do  it  to  prove  my  words 
false  ? "  interposed  Ebbo,  eagerly. 


DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NE3T.  169 

"What  words?" 

"  Thou  knowest.  Make  me  not  speak  them 
again." 

"  Oh,  those ! "  said  Friedel,  only  now  recalling 
them.  "  No,  verily ;  they  were  but  a  moment's 
anger.  I  wanted  to  save  the  kid.  I  think  it  is  old 
mother  Rika's  white  kid.  But  oh,  motherhng !  I 
grieve  to  have  thus  frightened  you." 

Not  a  single  word  passed  between  them  upon 
Ebbo's  exploits.  Whether  Friedel  had  seen  all  from 
the  heights,  or  whether  he  intuitively  perceived  that 
his  brother  preferred  silence,  he  held  his  peace,  and 
both  were  solely  occupied  in  assisting  their  mother 
down  the  pass,  the  difficulties  of  which  were  far 
more  felt  now  than  in  the  excitement  of  the  ascent ; 
only  when  they  were  near  home,  and  the  boys  were 
walking  in  the  darkness  with  arms  round  one  an- 
other's necks,  Christina  heard  Friedel  say  low  and 
rather  sadly,  "  I  think  I  shall  be  a  priest,  Ebbo." 

To  which  Ebbo  only  answered,  "  Pf ui !  " 

Christina  understood  that  Friedel  meant  that  rob- 
bery must  be  a  severance  between  the  brothers. 
Alas !  had  the  moment  come  when  their  paths  must 
diverge  ?     Could  Ebbo's  step  not  be  redeemed  ? 

Ursel  reported  that  Dame  Kunigunde  had  scarcely 
spoken  again,  bu*t  had  retired  like  one  stunned,  into 
her  bed.  Friedel  was  half  asleep  after  the  exertions 
of  the  day  ;  but  Ebbo  did  not  speak,  and  both  soon 
betook  themselves  to  their  little  turret  chamber 
within  their  mother's. 

Christina  prayed  long  that  night,  her  heart  full  of 


fro  DO  VB  IN  TEE  EAGLE '8  NEST. 

dread  of  the  consequence  of  this  transgression.  Eii- 
mors  of  freebooting  castles  destroyed  by  the  Swa- 
bian  League  had  reached  her  every  wake  day,  and, 
if  this  outrage  were  once  known,  the  sufferance  that 
left  Adlerstein  unmolested  must  be  over.  There 
was  hope  indeed  in  the  weakness  and  uncertainty  of 
the  government ;  but  present  safety  would  in  reality 
be  the  ruin  of  Ebbo,  since  he  would  be  encouraged 
to  persist  in  the  career  of  violence  now  unhappily 
begun.  She  knew  not  what  to  ask,  save  that  her 
sons  might  be  shielded  from  evil,  and  might  fulfill 
that  promise  of  her  dream,  the  star  in  heaven,  the 
light  on  earth.  And  for  the  present — the  good 
God  guide  her  and  her  sons  through  the  difficult 
morrow,  and  turn  the  heart  of  the  unhappy  old 
woman  below ! 

When,  exhausted  with  weeping  and  watching,  she 
rose  from  her  knees,  she  stole  softly  into  her  sons' 
turret  for  a  last  look  at  them.  Generally  they 
were  so.much  alike  in  their  sleep  that  even  she  was 
at  fault  between  them :  but  that  night  there  was 
no  doubt.  Friedel,  pale  after  the  day's  hunger  and 
fatigue,  slept  with  relaxed  features  in  the  most 
complete  calm ;  but  though  Ebbo's  eyes  were 
closed,  there  was  no  repose  in  his  face — ^his  hair 
was  tossed,  his  color  flushed,  his  brow  contracted, 
the  arm  flung  across  his  brother  had  none  of  the 
ease  of  sleep.  She  doubted  whether  he  were  not 
awake ;  but,  knowing  that  he  would  not  brook  any 
endeavor  to  force  confidence  he  did  not  offer,  she 
merely  hung  over  them  both,  murmured  a  prayer 
and  blessing,  and  left  them. 


DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLETS  NEST.  171 


CHAPTEK  XI. 

THE  CHOICE   IN   LIFE. 

"  Feiedel,  wake  ! " 

"  Is  it  day  ? "  said  Friedel,  slowly  wakening,  and 
crossing  himself  as  he  opened  his  eyes.  "  Surely  the 
sun  is  not  up  ? " 

"We  must  be  before  the  sun!"  said  Ebbo,  who 
was  on  his  feet,  beginning  to  dress  himself.  "  Hush, 
and  come !  Do  not  wake  the  mother.  It  must  be 
ere  she  or  aught  else  be  astir!  Thy  prayers — I 
tell  thee  this  is  a  work  as  good  as  prayer." 

Half  awake,  and  entirely  bewildered,  Friedel  dipped 
his  finger  in  the  pearl  mussel  shell  of  holy  water 
over  their  bed,  and  crossed  his  own  brow  and  his 
brother's  then,  carrying  their  shoes,  they  crossed 
their  mother's  ;  chamber,  and  crept  downstairs. 
Ebbo  muttered  to  his  brother,  "  Stand  thou  still 
there,  and  pray  the  saints  to  keep  her  asleep  ; "  and 
then,  with  bare  feet,  moved  noiselessly  behind  the 
wooden  partition  that  shut  off  his  grandmother's 
box-bedstead  from  the  rest  of  the  hall.  She 
lay  asleep  with  open  mouth,  snoring  loudly,  and  on 
her  pillow  lay  the  bunch  of  castle  keys,  that  was 
always  carried  to  her  at  night.  It  was  a  moment 
of  peril  when  Ebbo  touched  it ;  but  he  had  nerved 


172  -DO  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

himself  to  be  both  steady  and  dexterous,  and  he 
secured  it  without  a  jingle,  and  then,  without  en- 
tering the  hall,  descended  into  a  passage  lit  by  a 
rough  opening  cut  in  the  rock.  Friedel,  who 
began  to  comprehend,  followed  him  close  and  joy- 
fully, and  at  the  first  door  he  fitted  in,  and  with 
some  diflBculty  turned  a  key,  and  pushed  open  the 
door  of  a  vault,  where  morning  light,  streaming 
through  the  grated  window,  showed  two  captives  • 
who  had  started  to  their  feet,  and  now  stood  re- 
garding the  pair  in  the  doorway  as  if  they  thought 
their  dreams  were  multiplying  the  young  baron  who 
had  led  the  attack. 

"  Signori "  began  the  principal  of  the  two ; 

but  Ebbo  spoke. 

"  Sir,  you  have  been  brought  here  by  a  mistake  in 
the  absence  of  my  mother,  the  lady  of  the  castle. 
If  you  will  follow  me,  I  will  restore  all  that  is 
within  my  reach,  and  put  you  on  your  way." 

The  merchant's  knowledge  of  German  was  small, 
but  the  purport  of  the  words  was  pain,  and  he 
gladly  left  the  damp,  chilly  vault.  Ebbo  pointed  to 
the  bales  that  strewed  the  hall.  "  Take  all  that 
can  be  carried,"  he  said.  "  Here  is  your  sword,  and 
your  purse,"  he  said,  for  these  had  been  given  to  him 
in  the  moment  of  victory.  "  I  will  bring  out  your 
horse  and  lead  you  to  the  pass." 

"  Give  him  food,"  whispered  Friedel ;  but  the  mer- 
chant was  too  anxious  to  have  any  appetite.  Only 
he  faltered  in  broken  German  a  proposal  to  pay  his 
respect  to  the  Signora  Castellana^  to  whom  he  owed 
so  much. 


DOm  IN  TEE  EAQLE'8  NEST.  I73 

"  lN"o !  Dormit  in  lecto^'*  said  Ebbo,  with  a  sudden 
inspiration  caught  from  the  Latinized  sound  of  some 
of  the  Italian  words,  but  coloring  desperately  as  he 
spoke. 

The  Latin  proved  most  serviceable,  and  the  mer- 
chant understood  that  his  property  was  restored, 
and  made  all  speed  to  gather  it  together,  and  trans- 
port it  to  the  stable.  One  or  two  of  his  beasts  of 
burden  had  been  lost  in  the  fray,  and  there  were 
more  packages  than  could  well  be  carried  by  the 
merchant,  his  servant,  and  his  horse.  Ebbo  gave 
the  aid  of  the  old  white  mare — now  very  white  in- 
deed— and  in  truth  the  boys  pitied  the  merchant's 
fine  young  bay  for  being  put  to  base  trading  uses, 
and  were  rather  shocked  to  hear  that  it  had  been 
taken  in  payment  for  a  knight's  branched  velvet 
gown,  and  would  be  sold  again  at  Ulm. 

"  What  a  poor  coxcomb  of  a  knight ! "  said  they 
to  one  another,  as  they  patted  the  creature's  neck 
with  such  fervent  admiration  that  the  merchant 
longed  to  present  it  to  them,  when  he  saw  that  the 
old  white  mare  was  the  sole  steed  they  possessed, 
and  watched  their  tender  guidance  both  of  her  and 
of  the  bay  up  the  rocky  path  so  familiar  to  them. 

"  But  ah,  signorini  miei,  I  am  an  infelice  infelicis- 
simo,  ever  persecuted  by  le  FateP 

"  By  whom  ?  A  count  like  Schlangenwald  ? " 
asked  Ebbo. 

"  Das  Schicksal^^  whispered  Friedel. 

"Three  long  miserable  years  did  I  spend  as  a 
captive  among  the  Moors,  having  lost  all,  my  ships 


174  DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

and  all  I  had,  and  being  forced  to  row  their  galleys, 
gli  scomunicatir 

"  Galleys  !  "  exclaimed  Ebbo  ;  "  there  are  some 
pictured  in  onr  '  World  History  before  Carthage.' 
Would  that  I  could  see  one !  " 

"The  signorino  would  soon  have  seen  his  fill, 
were  he  between  the  decks,  chained  to  the  bench  for 
weeks  together,  without  ceasing  to  row  for  twenty- 
four  hours  together,  with  a  renegade  standing  over 
to  lash  us,  or  to  put  a  morsel  into  our  mouths  if  we 
were  fainting." 

"  The  dogs !  Do  they  thus  use  Christian  men  ? '' 
cried  Friedel. 

"  Si  81— job  wohl.  There  were  a  good  four-score 
of  us,  and  among  them  a  Tedesco,  a  good  man  and 
true,  from  whom  I  learned  la  lingua  loro^ 

"  Our  tongue  ! — from  whom  ?  "  asked  one  twin  of 
the  other. 

"  A  Tedesco,  a  fellow-countryman  of  sue  eccel- 
lemeP 

"  Deutscher  !  "  cried  both  boys,  turning  in  horror, 
"  our  Germans,  so  treated  by  the  pagan  villains  ? " 

"  Yea,  truly,  signorini  miei.  This  fellow-captive 
of  mine  was  a  cavaliere  in  his  own  land,  but  he  had 
been  betrayed  and  sold  by  his  enemies,  and  he 
mourned  piteously  for  la  sjposa  sua — his  bride,  as 
they  say  here.  A  goodly  man  and  a  tall,  piteoasly 
cramped  in  the  narrow  deck,  I  grieved  to  leave  him 
there  when  the  good  confraternitd  at  Genoa  paid  my 
ransom.  Having  learned  to  speak  il  Tedesco,  and 
being  no  longer  able  to  fit  out  a  vessel,  I  made  ray 


BO  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  175 

venture  beyond  the  Alps  ;  but,  alas !  till  this  mo- 
ment fortune  has  still  been  adverse.  My  mules  died 
of  the  toil  of  crossing  the  mountains ;  and,  when 
with  reduced  baggage  I  came  to  the  river  beneath 
there — when  my  horses  fell  and  my  servants  fled, 
and  the  peasants  came  down  with  their  hay-forks — 
I  thought  myself  in  hands  no  better  than  those  of 
the  Moors  themselves." 

"  It  was  wrongly  done,"  said  Ebbo,  in  an  honest, 
open  tone,  though  blushing.  "  I  have  indeed  a  right 
to  what  may  be  stranded  on  the  bank,  but  never 
more  shall  foul  means  be  employed  for  the  over- 
throw." 

The  boys  had  by  this  time  led  the  traveler  through 
the  Gemsbock's  Pass,  within  sight  of  the  con- 
vent. 

"  There,"  said  Ebbo,  "  will  they  give  you  harbor- 
age, food,  a  guide,  and  a  beast  to  carry  the  rest  of 
your  goods.  We  are  now  upon  convent  land,  and 
none  will  dare  to  touch  your  bales ;  so  I  will  unload 
old  Schimmel." 

"  Ah,  signorino,  if  I  might  offer  any  token  of 
gratitude " 

"  Nay,"  said  Ebbo,  with  boyish  lordliness,  "  make 
me  not  a  spoiler." 

"  If  the  signorini  should  ever  come  to  Genoa," 
continued  the  trader,  "  and  would  honor  Gian  Bat- 
tista  dei  Battiste  with  a  caU,  his  whole  house  would 
be  at  their  feet." 

"  Thanks ;  I  would  that  we  could  see  strange 
lands !  "  said  Ebbo.     "  But  come,  Friedel,  the  sun  is 


176  T)0  YE  IN  TEE  EAGLE'S  NEST, 

high,  and  I  locked  them  all  into  the  castle  to  make 
matters  safe." 

"  May  the  liberated  captive  know  the  name  of  his 
deliverers,  that  he  may  commend  it  to  the  saints  ? " 
asked  the  merchant. 

"  I  am  Eberhard,  Freiherr  von  Adlerstein,  and 
this  is  Freiherr  Friedmund,  my  brother.  Farewell, 
sir." 

"  Strange,"  muttered  the  merchant,  as  he  watched 
the  two  boys  turn  down  the  pass,  "  strange  how 
like  one  barbarous  name  is  to  another.  Eberado ! 
That  was  what  we  called  il  Tedeseo,  and,  when  he 
once  told  me  his  family  name,  it  ended  in  stino ; 
but  all  these  foreign  names  sound  alike.  Let  us 
speed  on,  lest  these  accursed  peasants  should  wake, 
and  be  beyond  the  control  of  the  signorinoP 

"  Ah ! "  sighed  Ebbo,  as  soon  as  he  had  hurried 
out  of  reach  of  the  temptation,  "  small  use  in  being 
a  baron  if  one  is  to  be  no  better  mounted  !  " 

"  Thou  art  glad  to  have  let  that  fair  creature  go 
free,  though,"  said  Friedel. 

"  Nay,  my  mother's  eyes  would  let  me  have  no 

rest  in  keeping  him.    Otherwise Talk  not  to  me 

of  gladness,  Friedel !  Thou  shouldst  know  better. 
How  is  one  to*  be  a  knight  with  nothing  to  ride  but 
a  beast  old  enough  to  be  his  grandmother  ? " 

"  Knighthood  of  the  heart  may  be  content  to  go 
afoot,"  said  Friedel.  "Oh,  Ebbo,  what  a  brother 
thou  art !     How  happy  the  mother  will  be ! " 

"  Pfui,  Friedel ;  what  boots  heart  without  spur  ? 
I  am  sick  of  being  mewed  up  here  within  these  walls 


DOVU  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  177 

of  rock !  'Eo  sport,  not  even  with  falling  on  a 
traveler.  I  am  worse  off  than  ever  were  my  fore- 
fathers ! " 

"  But  how  is  it  ?  I  cannot  understand,"  asked 
Friedel.     "  What  has  changed  thy  mind  ? " 

"  Thou,  and  the  mother^  and  more  than  all,  the 
grandame.  Listen,  Friedel ;  when  thou  earnest  up, 
in  all  the  whirl  of  eagerness  and  glad  preparation, 
with  thy  grave  face  and  murmur  that  Jobst  had  put 
forked  stakes  in  the  stream,  it  was  past  man's 
endurance  to  be  balked  of  the  fray.  Thou  hast 
forgotton  what  I  said  to  thee  then,  good  Friedel  ? " 

"  Long  since.     E'o  doubt  I  thrust  in  vexatiously." 

"  IS'ot  so,"  said  Ebbo ;  "  and  I  saw  thou  hadst 
reason,  for  the  stakes  were  most  maliciously  planted, 
with  long  branches  hid  by  the  current ;  but  the 
fellows  were  showing  fight,  and  I  could  not  stay  to 
think  then,  or  I  should  have  seemed  to  fear  them  ! 
I  can  tell  you  we  made  them  run !  But  I  never 
meant  the  grandmother  to  put  yon  poor  fellow  in 
the  dungeon,  and  use  him  worse  than  a  dog.  I  wot 
that  he  was  my  captive,  and  none  of  hers.  And 
then  came  the  mother ;  and  oh,  Friedel,  she  looked 
as  if  I  were  slaying  her  when  sh  e  saw  the  spoil ; 
and,  ere  I  had  made  her  see  right  and  reason,  the 
old  lady  came  swooping  down  in  full  malice  and 
spite,  and  actually  came  to  blows.  She  struck  the 
motherling — struck  her  on  the  face,  Friedel ! " 

"  I  fear  me  it  has  so  been  before,"  said  Friedel, 
sadly. 

"  I^ever  will  it  be  so  again,"  said  Ebbo,  standing 


178  DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST, 

still.  "  I  took  the  old  hag  by  the  hands,  and  told 
her  she  had  ruled  long  enough !  My  father's  wife 
is  as  good  a  lady  of  the  castle  as  my  grandfather's, 
and  I  myself  am  lord  thereof ;  and,  since  my  Lady 
Kunigunde  chooses  to  cross  me  and  beat  my  mother 
about  this  capture,  why  she  has  seen  the  last  of  it, 
and  may  learn  who  is  master,  and  who  is  mis- 
tress 1 " 

"  Oh,  Ebbo  !  I  would  I  had  seen  it !  But  was 
not  she  outrageous  ?  "Was  not  the  mother  shrink- 
ing and  ready  to  give  back  all  her  claims  at  once  ? " 

"  Perhaps  she  would  have  been,  but  just  then  she 
found  thou  wast  not  with  me,  and  I  found  thou  wast 
not  with  her,  and  we  thought  of  nought  else.  But 
thou  must  stand  by  me,  Friedel,  and  help  to  keep 
the  grandmother  in  her  place,  and  the  mother  in 
hers." 

"  If  the  mother  will  be  kept,"  said  Friedel.  "  I 
fear  me  she  will  only  plead  to  be  left  to  the  gran- 
dame's  treatment,  as  before." 

"  Never,  Friedel !  I  will  never  see  her  so  used 
again.  I  released  this  man  solely  to  show  that  she 
is  to  rule  here.  Yes,  I  know  all  about  freebooting 
being  a  deadly  sin,  and  moreover  that  it  will  bring 
the  league  about  our  ears ;  and  it  was  a  cowardly 
trick  of  Jobst  to  put  those  branches  in  the  stream. 
Did  I  not  go  over  it  last  night  till  my  brain  was 
dizzy  ?  But  still,  it  is  but  living  and  dying  like  our 
fathers,  and  I  hate  taraeness  or  dullness,  and  it  is 
like  a  fool  to  go  back  from  what  one  has  once 
begun."  * 


LOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST,  179 

"  No ;  it  is  like  a  brave  man,  when  one  has  begun 
wrong,"  said  Friedel. 

"But  then  I  thought  of  the  grandame  triumphing 
over  the  gentle  mother — and  I  know  the  mother 
wept  over  her  beads  half  the  night.  She  shall  find 
she  has  had  her  own  way  for  once  this  morning." 

Freidel  was  silent  for  a  few  moments,  then  said : 
"  Let  me  tell  thee  what  I  saw  yesterday,  Ebbo." 

"  So,"  answered  the  other  brother. 

"  I  liked  not  to  vex  my  mother  by  my  tidings,  so 
I  climbed  up  to  the  tarn.  There  is  something  al- 
ways healing  in  that  spot,  is  it  not  so,  Ebbo  ?  When 
the  grandmother  has  been  raving "  (hitherto  Frei- 
del's  worst  grievance)  "  it  is  like  getting  up  nearer 
the  quiet  sky  in  the  stillness  there,  when  the  sky 
seems  to  have  come  down  into  the  deep  blue  water, 
and  all  is  so  still,  so  wondrous  still  and  calm.  I 
wonder  if,  when  we  see  the  great  Dome  Kirk  it- 
self, it  will  give  one's  spirit  wings,  as  does  the  gazing 
up  from  the  Ptarmigan's  Pool." 

"  Thou  minnesinger;  was  it  the  blue  sky  thou 
hadst  to  tell  me  of?" 

"  JS'o,  brother,  it  was  ere  I  reached  it  that  I  saw 
this  sight.  I  had  scaled  the  peak  where  grows  the 
stunted  rowan,  and  I  sat  down  to  look  down  on  the 
other  side  of  the  gorge.  It  was  clear  where  I  sat, 
but  the  ravine  was  filled  with  clouds,  and  upon 
them " 

"The  shape  of  the  blessed  Friedmund,  thy  pa- 
tron?" 

"  Our  patron,"  said  Friedel ;  "  I  saw  him,  a  giant 


180  I>0  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST, 

form  in  gown  and  hood,  traced  in  gray  shadow 
upon  the  dazzling  white  cloud ;  and  oh,  Ebbo !  he 
was  struggling  with  a  thinner,  darker,  wilder  shape 
bearing  a  club.  He  strove  to  withhold  it ;  his  ges- 
tures threatened  and  warned !  I  watched  like  one 
spellbound,  for  it  was  to  me  as  the  guardian  spirit 
of  our  race  striving  for  thee  with  the  enemy." 

"How  did  it  end?" 

"  The  cloud  darkened  and  swallowed  them ;  nor 
should  I  have  known  the  issue,  if  suddenly,  on  the 
very  cloud  where  the  strife  had  been,  there  had  not 
beamed  forth  a  rainbow — not  a  common  rainbow, 
Ebbo,  but  a  perfect  ring,  a  soft-glancing,  many- 
tinted  crown  of  victory.  Then  I  knew  the  saint 
had  won,  and  that  thou  wouldst  win." 

"  I !    What,  not  thyself — his  own  namesake  ? " 

"  I  thought,  pbbo,  if  the  fight  went  very  hard — 
nay,  if  for  a  time  the  grandame  led  thee  her  way — 
that  belike  I  might  serve  thee  best  by  giving  up 
all,  and  praying  for  thee  in  the  hermit's  cave,  or  as 
a  monk." 

"  Thou ! — thou,  my  other  self !  Aid  me  by  bur- 
rowing in  a  hole  like  a  rat !  What  foolery  wilt  say 
next  ?  No,  no,  Friedel,  strike  by  my  side,  and  I 
will  strike  with  thee ;  pray  by  my  side,  and  I  will 
pray  with  thee ;  but  if  thou  takest  none  of  the 
strokes,  then  will  I  none  of  the  prayers  ! " 

"  Ebbo,  thou  knowest  not  what  thou  sayest." 

"  E'o  one  knows  better !  See,  Friedel,  wouldst 
thou  have  me  all  that  the  old  Adlersteinen  were, 
and  worse  too  ?  then  wilt  thou  leave  me  and  hide 


DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  181 

thine  head  in  some  priestly  cowl.  Maybe  thou 
thinkest  to  pray  my  soul  into  safety  at  the  last  mo- 
ment as  a  favor  to  thine  own  abundant  sanctity; 
but  I  tell  thee,  Friedel,  that's  no  manly  way  to  sal- 
vation. If  thou  follow'st  that  track,  I'll  take  care 
to  get  past  the  border-line  within  which  prayer  can 
help." 

Friedel  crossed  himself,  and  uttered  an  imploring 
exclamation  of  horror  at  these  wild  words. 

"  Stay,"  said  Ebbo ;  "  I  said  not  I  meant  any  such 
thing — so  long  as  thou  wilt  be  with  me.  My  pur- 
pose is  to  be  a  good  man  and  true,  a  guard  to  the 
weak,  a  defense  against  the  Turk,  a  good  lord  to 
my  vassals,  and,  if  it  may  not  be  otherwise,  I  will 
take  my  oath  to  the  kaiser  and  keep  it.  Is  that 
enough  for  thee,  Friedel,  or  wouldst  thou  see  me  a 
monk  at  once  ? " 

"  Oh,  Ebbo,  this  is  what  we  ever  planned.  I  only 
dreamed  of  the  other  when — when  thou  didst  seem 
to  be  on  the  other  track." 

"  WeU,  what  can  I  do  more  than  turn  back  ?  I'll 
get  absolution  on  Sunday,  and  tell  Father  ]N'orbert 
that  I  will  do  any  penance  he  pleases ;  and  vrarn 
Jobst  that,  if  he  sets  any  more  traps  in  the  river,  I 
will  drown  him  there  next !  Only  get  this  priestly 
fancy  away,  Friedel,  once  and  forever." 

"  Never,  never  could  I  think  of  what  would  sever 
us,"  cried  Friedel,  "save — when "  he  added,  hesi- 
tating, unwilling  to  harp  on  the  former  string. 
Ebbo  broke  in  imperiously. 

"  Friedmund  von  Adlerstein,  give  me  thy  solemn 


182  DOVE  m  TEE  EAGLE' 8  NEST. 

word  that  I  never  again  hear  of  this  freak  of  turning 
priest  or  hermit.  What!  art  slow  to  speak? 
Thinkest  me  too  bad  for  thee  ? " 

"  No,  Ebbo.  Heaven  knows  thou  art  stronger, 
more  resolute  than  I.  I  am  more  likely  to  be  too 
bad  for  thee.  But  so  long  as  we  can  be  true,  faith- 
ful. God-fearing  junkern  together,  Heaven  forbid 
that  we  should  part ! " 

"  It  is  our  bond ! "  said  Ebbo ;  "  nought  shall  part 
us." 

"  Nought  but  death,"  said  Friedmund,  solemnly. 

"  For  my  part,"  said  Ebbo,  with  perfect  serious- 
ness, "  I  do  not  believe  that  one  of  us  can  live  or  die 
without  the  other.  But,  hark !  there's  an  outcry  at 
the  castle!  They  have  found  out  that  they  are 
locked  in !  Ha !  ho !  hilloa,  Hatto,  how  like  you 
playing  prisoner  ? " 

Ebbo  would  have  amused  himself  with  the  dismay 
of  his  garrison  a  little  longer,  had  not  Friedel 
reminded  him  that  their  mother  might  be  suffering 
for  their  delay,  and  this  suggestion  made  him  march 
in  hastily.  He  found  her  standing  drooping  under 
the  pitiless  storm  which  Frau  Kunigunde  was  pour- 
ing out  at  the  highest  pitch  of  her  cracked,  trem- 
bling voice,  one  hand  uplifted  and  clinched,  the 
other  grasping  the  back  of  a  chair,  while  her  whole 
frame  shook  with  rage  too  mighty  for  her  strength. 

"  Grandame,"  said  Ebbo,  striding  up  to  the  scene 
of  action,  "  cease.     Remember  my  words  yestereve." 

"  She  has  stolen  the  keys !  She  has  tampered  with 
the  servants !    She  has  released  the  prisoner — thy 


DO  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE 'S  NEST.  188 

prisoner,  Ebbo !  She  has  cheated  us  as  she  did  with 
Wildschloss !  False  burgherinn !  I  trow  she  wanted 
another  suitor !     Bane — pest  of  Adlerstein  ! " 

Friedmund  threw  a  supporting  arm  round  his 
mother;  but  Ebbo  confronted  the  old  lady. 
"  Grandmother,"  he  said,  *'  I  freed  the  captive.  I 
stole  the  keys — I  and  Friedel !  No  one  else  knew 
my  purpose.  He  was  my  captive,  and  I  released 
him  because  he  was  foully  taken.  I  have  chosen 
my  lot  in  life,"  he  added;  and,  standing  in  the 
middle  of  the  hall,  he  took  off  his  cap,  and  spoke 
gravely  :  "  I  will  not  be  a  treacherous  robber-out- 
law, but,  so  help  me  God,  a  faithful,  loyal,  godly 
nobleman." 

His  mother  and  Friedel  breathed  an  "  Amen " 
with  all  their  hearts ;  and  he  continued. 

"  And  thou,  grandame,  peace !  Such  reverence 
shalt  thou  have  as  befits  my  father's  mother ;  but 
henceforth  mine  own  lady-mother  is  the  mistress  of 
this  castle,  and  whoever  speaks  a  rude  word  to  her 
offends  the  Freiherr  von  Adlerstein." 

That  last  day's  work  had  made  a  great  step  in 
Ebbo's  life,  and  there  he  stood,  grave  and  firm, 
ready  for  the  assault;  for,  in  effect,  he  and  all 
beside  expected  that  the  old  lady  would  fly  at  him 
or  at  his  mother  like  a  wild  cat,  as  she  would  as- 
suredly have  done  in  a  like  case  a  year  earlier ;  but 
she  took  them  all  by  surprise  by  collapsing  into  her 
chair  and  sobbing  piteously.  Ebbo,  much  distressed, 
tried  to  make  her  understand  that  she  was  to  have 
all  care  and  honor;  but  she  muttered  something 


184  DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

about  ingratitude,  and  continued  to  exhaust  herself 
with  weeping,  spurning  away  all  who  approached 
her ;  and  thenceforth  she  lived  in  a  gloomy,  sullen 
acquiescence  in  her  deposition. 

Christina  inclined  to  the  opinion  that  she  must 
have  had  some  slight  stroke  in  the  night,  for  she 
was  never  the  same  woman  again ;  her  vigor  had 
passed  away,  and  she  would  sit  spinning,  or  rocking 
herself  in  her  chair,  scarcely  alive  to  what  passed, 
or  scolding  and  fretting  like  a  shadow  of  her  old 
violence.  E'othing  pleased  her  but  the  attentions  of 
her  grandsons,  and  happily  she  soon  ceased  to  know 
them  apart,  and  gave  Ebbo  credit  for  all  that  was 
done  for  her  by  Friedel,  whose  separate  existence 
she  seemed  to  have  forgotten. 

As  long  as  her  old  spirit  remained  she  would  not 
suffer  the  approach  of  her  daughter-in-law,  and 
Christina  could  only  make  suggestions  for  her  com- 
fort to  be  acted  on  by  IJrsel ;  and  though  the  reins 
of  government  fast  dropped  from  the  aged  hands, 
they  were  but  gradually  and  cautiously  assumed  by 
the  younger  baroness. 

Only  Elsie  remained  of  the  rude,  demoralized 
girls  whom  she  had  found  in  the  castle,  and  their 
successors,  though  dull  and  uncouth,  were  meek  and 
manageable ;  the  men  of  the  castle  had  all,  except 
Matz,  been  always  devoted  to  the  Frau  Christina; 
and  Matz,  to  her  great  relief,  ran  away  so  soon  as 
he  found  that  decency  and  honesty  were  to  be  the 
rule.  Old  Hatto,  humpbacked  Hans,  and  Heinz  the 
schneiderlein,  were  the  whole  male  establishment, 


DOVB  m  THM  MA&LE'S  NE8T.  185 

and  had  at  least  the  merit  of  attachment  to  herself 
and  her  sons ;  and  in  time  there  was  a  shade  of 
greater  civilization  about  the  castle,  though  impeded 
both  by  dire  poverty  and  the  doggedness  of  the  old 
retainers.  At  least  the  court  was  cleared  of  the 
swine,  and,  within  doors,  the  table  was  spread  with 
dainty  linen  out  of  the  parcels  from  Ulm,  and  the 
meals  served  with  orderliness  that  annoyed  the  boys 
at  first,  but  soon  became  a  subject  of  pride  and 
pleasure. 

Frau  Kunigunde  lingered  long  with  increasing  in- 
firmities. After  the  winter  day,  when,  running 
down  at  a  sudden  noise,  Friedel  picked  her  up  from 
the  hearthstone,  scorched,  bruised,  almost  senseless, 
she  accepted  Christina's  care  with  nothing  worse 
than  a  snarl,  and  gradually  seemed  to  forget  the 
identity  of  her  nurse  with  the  interloping  burgher 
girl.  Thanks  or  courtesy  had  been  no  part  of  her 
nature,  least  of  all  toward  her  own  sex,  and  she  did 
little  but  grumble,  fret,  and  revile  her  attendant ;  but 
soon  she  depended  so  much  on  Christina's  care,  that 
it  was  hardly  possible  to  leave  her.  At  her  best  and 
strongest,  her  talk  was  maundering  abuse  of  her 
son's  low-born  wife  ;  but  at  times  her  wanderings 
showed  black  gulfs  of  iniquity  and  coarseness  of 
soul  that  would  make  the  gentle  listener  tremble, 
and  be  thankful  that  her  sons  were  out  of  hearing. 
And  thus  did  Christina  von  Adlerstein  requite  fifteen 
years  of  persecution. 

The  old  lady's  first  failure  had  been  in  the  sum- 
mer of  1488 ;  it  was  the  Advent  season  of  1489,  when 


186  DO  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE' 8  NEST, 

the  snow  was  at  the  deepest,  and  the  frost  at  the 
hardest,  that  the  two  hardy  mountameer  grandsons 
fetched  over  the  pass  Father  JSTorbert,  and  a  still 
sturdier,  stronger  monk,  to  the  dying  woman. 

"  Are  we  in  time,  mother  ? "  asked  Ebbo,  from 
the  door  of  the  upper  chamber,  where  the  Adler- 
steins  began  and  ended  life,  shaking  the  snow  from 
his  muffings.  Euddy  with  exertion  in  the  sharp 
wind,  what  a  contrast  he  was  to  all  within  the  room  ! 

"  Who  is  that  ? "  said  a  thin,  feeble  voice. 

"It  is  Ebbo.  It  is  the  baron,"  said  Christina. 
"  Come  in,  Ebbo.     She  is  somewhat  revived." 

"  Will  she  be  able  to  speak  to  the  priest  ? "  asked 
Ebbo. 

"  Priest ! "  feebly  screamed  the  old  woman.  "  l^o 
priest  for  me !  My  lord  died  unshriven,  unassoilzied. 
Where  he  is,  there  will  I  be.  Let  a  priest  approach 
me  at  his  peril !  " 

Stony  insensibility  ensued;  nor  did  she  speak 
again,  though  Hfe  lasted  many  hours  longer.  The 
priests  did  their  office ;  for,  impenitent  as  the  life  and 
frantic  as  the  words  had  been,  the  opinions  of  the 
time  deemed  that  their  rites  might  yet  give  the  de- 
parting soul  a  chance,  though  the  body  was  uncon- 
scious. 

When  all  was  over,  snow  was  again  falling,  shift- 
ing and  drifting,  so  that  it  was  impossible  to  leave 
the  castle,  and  the  two  monks  were  kept  there  for  a 
full  fortnight,  during  which  Christmas  solemnities 
were  observed  in  the  chapel,  for  the  first  time 
since  the  days  of  Friedmund  the  Good.     The  corpse 


DO  VL  IN  THE  EAGLE* 8  NEST  187 

of  Kunigunde,  preserved — we  must  say  the  word — 
salted,  was  placed  in  a  coffin,  and  laid  in  that  chapel 
to  await  the  melting  of  the  snows,  when  the  vault 
at  the  Hermitage  could  be  opened.  And  this  could 
not  be  effected  till  Easter  had  nearly  come  round 
again,  and  it  was  within  a  week  of  their  sixteenth 
birthday  that  the  two  young  barons  stood  together 
at  the  coffin's  head,  serious  indeed,  but  more  with 
the  thought  of  life  than  of  death. 


188  DOVS  m  THE  EAGLE'S  NE8T, 


CHAPTEE  XII. 

BACK  TO   THE    DOVECOTE. 

For  THE  first  time  in  her  residence  at  Adlerstein, 
now  full  half  her  life,  the  Freiherrin  Christina 
ventured  to  send  a  messenger  to  Ulm,  namely,  a  lay 
brother  of  the  convent  of  St.  Kuprecht,  who  under- 
took to  convey  to  Master  Gottfried  Sorel  her  letter, 
informing  him  of  the  death  of  her  mother-in-law, 
and  requesting  him  to  send  the  same  tidings  to  the 
Freiherr  von  Adlerstein  Wildschloss,  the  kinsman 
and  godfather  of  her  sons. 

She  was  used  to  wait  fifty-two  weeks  for  answers 
to  her  letters,  and  was  amazed  when,  at  the  end  of 
three,  two  stout  serving-men  were  guided  by  Jobst 
up  the  pass ;  but  her  heart  warmed  to  their  flat  caps 
and  round  jerkins,  they  looked  so  like  home.  They 
bore  a  letter  of  invitation  to  her  and  her  sons  to 
come  at  once  to  her  uncle's  house.  The  king  of  the 
Romans,  and  perhaps  the  emperor,  were  to  come 
to  the  city  early  in  the  summer,  and  there  could  be 
no  better  opportunity  of  presenting  the  young  barons 
to  their  sovereign.  Sir  Kasimir  of  Adlerstein  Wild- 
schloss  would  meet  them  there  for  the  purpose,  and 
would  obtain  their  admission  to  the  league,  in  which 
all  Swabian  nobles  had  bound  themselves  to  put 


DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE' 8  NEST.  189 

down  robbery  and  oppression,  and  outside  which 
there  was  nothing  but  outlawry  and  danger. 

"  So  must  it  be  ? "  said  Ebbo,  between  his  teeth, 
as  he  leaned  moodily  against  the  wall,  while  his 
mother  was  gone  to  attend  to  the  fare  to  be  set  be- 
fore the  messengers. 

"  What !  art  not  glad  to  take  wing  at  last  ? "  ex- 
claimed Friedel,  cut  short  in  an  exclamation  of  de- 
light. 

"  Take  wing,  forsooth  !  To  be  guest  of  a  greasy 
burgher,  and  call  cousin  with  him !  Fear  not,  Frie- 
del ;  I'll  not  vex  the  motherling !  Heaven  knows 
she  has  had  pain,  grief,  and  subjection  enough  in  her 
lifetime,  and  I  would  not  hinder  her  visit  to  her 
home  ;  but  I  would  she  could  go  alone,  nor  make  us 
show  our  poverty  to  the  swollen  city  folk,  and 
listen  to  their  endearments.  I  charge  thee,  Friedel, 
do  as  I  do ;  be  not  too  familiar  with  them.  Could 
we  but  sprain  an  ankle  over  the  crag " 

"  ]^ay,  she  would  stay  to  nurse  us,"  said  Friedel, 
laughing ;  "  besides,  thou  art  needed  for  the  matter 
of  homage." 

"Look,  Friedel,"  said  Ebbo,  sinking  his  voice,  "  I 
shall  not  lightly  yield  my  freedom  to  king  or  kaiser. 
Maybe,  there's  no  help  for  it ;  but  it  irks  me  to  think 
that  I  should  be  the  last  Lord  of  Adler stein  to  whom 
the  title  of  freiherr  is  not  a  mockery.  Why  dost 
bend  thy  brow,  brother  ?  What  art  thinking  of  ? " 

"  Only  a  saying  in  my  mother's  book,  that  well- 
ordered  service  is  true  freedom,"  said  Friedel.  "And 
methinks  there  will  be  freedom  in  rushing  at  last 


190  DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST, 

into  the  great  far-off ! "  The  boy*s  eye  expanded  and 
ghstened  with  eagerness.  "Here  are  we  prisoners 
— ^to  ourselves,  if  you  like — but  prisoners  still,  pent 
up  in  the  rocks,  seeiQg  no  one,  hearing  scarce  an 
echo  from  the  knightly  or  the  poet  world,  nor  from 
all  the  wonders  that  pass.  And  the  world  has  a  his- 
tory going  on  still,  hke  the  "  Chronicle."  Oh,  Ebbo, 
think  of  being  in  the  midst  of  life,  with  lance  and 
sword,  and  seeing  the  kaiser — the  kaiser  of  the  holy 
Roman  empire ! " 

"  With  lance  and  sword,  well  and  good  ;  but  would 
it  were  not  at  the  cost  of  liberty !  " 

However  Ebbo  forbore  to  damp  his  mother's  joy, 
save  by  the  one  warning — "  Understand,  mother,  that 
I  win  not  be  pledged  to  anything.  I  will  not  bend 
to  the  yoke  ere  I  have  seen  and  judged  for  myself." 

The  manly  sound  of  the  words  gave  a  sweet  sense 
of  exultation  to  the  mother,  even  while  she  dreaded 
the  proud  spirit,  and  whispered,  "God  direct  thee, 
my  son." 

Certainly  Ebbo,  hitherto  the  most  impetuous  and 
least  thoughtful  of  the  two  lads,  had  a  gravity  and 
seriousness  about  him,  that,  but  for  his  naturally 
sweet  temper,  would  have  seemed  sullen.  His  aspi- 
rations for  adventure  had  hitherto  been  more  ve- 
hement than  Friedel's  ;  but,  when  the  time  seemed 
at  hand,  his  regrets  at  what  he  might  have  to  yield 
overpowered  his  hopes  of  the  future.  The  fierce 
haughtiness  of  the  old  Adlersteins  could  not  brook 
the  descent  from  the  crag,  even  while  the  keen, 
clear  burgher  wit  that  Ebbo  inherited   from  the 


DOVE  IN  TEE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  191 

other  side  of  the  house  taught  him  that  the  position 
was  untenable,  and  that  his  isolated  glory  was  but  a 
poor  mean  thing  after  all.  And  the  struggle  made 
him  sad  and  moody. 

Friedel,  less  proud,  and  with  nothing  to  yield,  was 
open  to  blithe  anticipations  of  what  his  fancy 
pictured  as  the  home  of  all  the  beauty,  sacred  or 
romantic,  that  he  had  glimpsed  at  through  his 
mother.  ReKgion,  poetry,  learning,  art,  refinement, 
had  all  come  to  him  through  her ;  and  though  he 
had  a  soul  that  dreamed  and  soared  in  the  lonely 
grandeur  of  the  mountain  heights,  it  craved  further 
ailment  for  its  yearnings  for  completeness  and  per- 
fection. Long  ago  had  Friedel  come  to  the  verge  of 
such  attainments  as  he  could  work  out  of  his  present 
materials,  and  keen  had  been  his  ardor  for  the 
means  of  progress,  though  only  the  m  ountain  tarn 
had  ever  been  witness  to  the  fuU  outpouring  of  the 
longings  with  which  he  gazed  upon  the  dim,  distant 
city  like  a  land  of  enchantment. 

The  journey  was  to  be  at  once,  so  as  to  profit  by 
the  escort  of  Master  SorePs  men.  Means  of  trans- 
port were  scanty,  but  Ebbo  did  not  choose  that  the 
messengers  should  report  the  need,  and  bring  back 
a  bevy  of  animals  at  the  burgher's  expense ;  so  the 
mother  was  mounted  on  the  old  white  mare,  and 
her  sons  and  Heinz  trusted  to  their  feet.  By  setting 
out  early  on  a  May  morning,  the  journey  could  be 
performed  ere  night,  and  the  twilight  would  find 
them  in  the  domains  of  the  free  city,  where  their 
small  numbers  would  be  of  no  importance.     As  to 


192  DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

their  appearance,  the  mother  wore  a  black  woolen 
gown  and  mantle,  and  a  black  silk  hood  tied  under 
her  chin,  and  sitting  loosely  round  the  stiff  frame  of 
her  white  cap — a  nun-like  garb,  save  for  the  soft 
brown  hair,  parted  over  her  brow,  and  more  visible 
than  she  sometimes  thought  correct,  but  her  sons 
would  not  let  her  wear  it  out  of  sight. 

The  brothers  had  piece  by  piece  surveyed  the 
solitar  suit  of  armory  remaining  in  the  castle ;  but 
though  it  might  serve  for  defense,  it  could  not  be 
made  fit  for  display,  and  they  must  needs  be  contented 
with  blue  cloth,  spun,  woven,  dyed,  fashioned,  and 
sewn  at  home,  chiefly  by  their  mother,  and  by  her 
embroidered  on  the  breast  with  the  white  eagle  of 
Adlerstein.  Short  blue  cloaks  and  caps  of  the 
same,  with  an  eagle  plume  in  each,  and  leggings 
neatly  fashioned  of  deerskin,  completed  their  equip- 
ments. Ebbo  wore  his  father's  sword,  Friedel  had 
merely  a  dagger  and  a  crossbow.  There  was  not  a 
gold  chain,  not  a  brooch,  not  an  approach  to  an 
ornament  among  the  three,  except  the  medal  that 
had  always  distinguished  Ebbo,  and  the  coral  ros- 
ary at  Christina's  girdle.  Her  own  trinkets  had  gone 
in  masses  for  the  souls  of  her  father  and  husband ; 
and  though  a  few  costly  jewels  had  been  found  in 
Frau  Kunigunde's  hoards,  the  mode  of  their  acqui- 
sition was  so  doubtful,  that  it  had  seemed  fittest  to 
bestow  them  in  alms  and  masses  for  the  good  of 
her  soul. 

"  What  ornament,  what  glory  could  any  one  de- 
sire better  than  two  such  sons  ? "  thought  Christina, 


DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE' 8  NEST.  193 

as  for  the  first  time  for  eighteen  years  she  crossed 
the  wild  ravine  where  her  father  had  led  her,  a 
trembling  little  captive,  longing  for  wings  like  a 
dove's  to  flutter  home  again.  Who  would  then 
have  predicted  that  she  should  descend  after  so 
long  and  weary  a  time,  and  with  a  gallant  boy  on 
either  side  of  her,  eager  to  aid  her  every  step,  and 
reassure  her  at  each  giddy  pass,  all  joy  and  hope  be- 
fore her  and  them  ?  Yet  she  was  not  without  some 
dread  and  misgiving,  as  she  watched  her  elder  son, 
always  attentive  to  her,  but  unwontedly  silent,  with 
a  stern  gravity  on  his  young  brow,  a  proud  sad- 
ness on  his  lip.  And  when  he  had  come  to  the 
Debatable  Ford,  and  was  about  to  pass  the  bound- 
aries of  his  own  lands,  he  turned  and  gazed  back 
on  the  castle  and  mountain  with  a  silent  but  pas- 
sionate ardor,  as  though  he  felt  himself  doing  them  a 
wrong  by  periling  their  independence. 

The  sun  had  lately  set,  and  the  moon  was  silvering 
the  Danube,  when  the  travelers  came  full  in  view 
of  the  imperial  free  city,  girt  in  with  mighty  walls 
and  towers — the  vine-clad  hill  dominated  by  its 
crowning  church ;  the  irregular  outlines  of  the  un- 
finished spire  of  the  cathedral  traced  in  mysterious 
dark  lacework  against  the  pearly  sky ;  the  lofty 
steeple-like  gate-tower  majestically  guarding  the 
bridge.  Christina  clasped  her  hands  in  thankful- 
ness, as  at  the  familiar  face  of  a  friend ;  Friedel  glowed 
like  a  minstrel  introduced  to  his  fair  dame,  long 
wooed  at  a  distance  ;  Ebbo  could  not  but  exclaim, 
"Yea,  truly,  a  great  city  is  a  solemn  and  a  glorious 
sight  1" 


194  DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

The  gates  were  closed,  and  the  serving-men  had 
to  parley  at  the  barbican  ere  the  heavy  door  was 
opened  to  admit  the  party  to  the  bridge,  between 
deep  battlemented  stone  walls,  with  here  and  there 
loopholes,  showing  the  shimmering  of  the  river  be- 
neath. The  slow,  tired  tread  of  the  old  mare 
sounded  hollow ;  the  river  rushed  below  with  the 
full  swell  of  evening  loudness ;  a  deep-toned  con- 
vent-bell tolled  gravely  through  the  stillness,  while, 
between  its  reverberations,  clear,  distinct  notes  of 
joyous  music  were  borne  on  the  summer  wind,  and 
a  nightingale  sung  in  one  of  the  gardens  that  bor- 
dered the  banks. 

"  Mother,  it  is  all  that  I  dreamed ! "  breathlessly 
murmured  Friedel,  as  they  halted  under  the  dark 
arch  of  the  great  gateway  tower. 

ISTot  however  in  Friedel's  dreams  had  been  the 
hearty  voice  that  proceeded  from  the  lighted  guard- 
room in  the  thickness  of  the  gateway.  "  Freiher- 
rin  von  Adlerstein !  Is  it  she  ?  Then  must  I  greet 
my  old  playmate ! "  And  the  captain  of  the  watch 
appeared  among  upraised  lanterns  and  torches  that 
showed  a  broad,  smooth,  plump  face  beneath  a  plain 
steel  helmet. 

"  Welcome,  gracious  lady,  welcome  to  your  old 
city.  What !  do  you  not  remember  Lippus  Grundt, 
your  poor  valentine  ? " 

"Master  Phihp  Grundt!"  exclaimed  Christina, 
amazed  at  the  breadth  of  visage  and  person ;  "  and 
how  fares  it  with  my  good  Regma  ? " 

"Excellent    well,    good    lady.      She     manages 


DOY^  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  195 

her  trade  and  house  as  well  as  the  good  man  Barto- 
laus  Fleischer  himself.  Blythe  will  she  be  to  show 
you  her  goodly  ten,  as  I  shall  my  eight,"  he  contin- 
ued, walking  by  her  side  ;  "and  Barbara — you  re- 
member Barbara  Schmidt,  lady " 

"  My  dear  Barbara  ?  That  do  I  indeed !  Is  she 
your  wife  ? " 

"  Ay,  truly,  lady,"  he  answered,  in  an  odd  sort  of 
apologetic  tone ;  "  you  see,  you  returned  not,  and 
the  housefathers,  they  would  have  it  so — and  Bar- 
bara is  a  good  housewife." 

"  Truly  do  I  rejoice ! "  said  Christina,  wishing  she 
could  conve}^  to  him  how  welcome  he  had  been  to 
marry  any  one  he  liked,  as  far  as  she  was  concerned 
— ^he,  in  whom  her  fears  of  mincing  goldsmiths  had 
always  taken  form — then  signing  with  her  hand,  "  I 
have  my  sons  likewise  to  show  her." 

"  Ah,  on  foot  ?  "  muttered  Grundt,  as  a  not  well- 
conceived  apology  for  not  having  saluted  the  young 
gentlemen.  "  I  greet  you  well,  sirs,"  with  a  bow, 
most  haughtily  returned  by  Ebbo,  who  was  heartily 
wishing  himself  on  his  mountain.  "  Two  lusty, 
well-grown  junkern,  indeed,  to  whom  my  Martin 
will  be  proud  to  show  the  humors  of  Ulm.  A  fair 
good  night,  lady  !  You  will  find  the  old  folks  right 
cheery." 

Well  did  Christina  know  the  turn  down  the  street 
darkened  by  the  overhanging  brows  of  tall "  houses, 
but  each  lower  window  laughing  with  the  glow  of 
fight  within  that  threw  out  the  heavy  mullions  and 
the  circles  and  diamonds  of    the  latticework,  and 


196  DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

here  and  there  the  brilliant  tints  of  stained  glass 
sparkled  like  jewels  in  the  upper  panes,  pictured 
with  scripture  scene,  patron  saint,  or  trade  emblem. 
The  familiar  porch  was  reached,  the  familiar  knock 
resounded  on  the  iron-studded  door.  Friedel  lifted 
his  mother  from  her  horse,  and  felt  that  she  was 
quivering  from  head  to  foot,  and  at  the  same  mo- 
ment the  light  streamed  from  the  open  door  on  the 
white  horse,  and  the  two  young  faces,  one  eager, 
the  other  with  knit  brows  and  uneasy  eyes.  A  kind 
of  echo  pervaded  the  house,  "  She  is  come  !  she  is 
come  ! "  and  as  one  in  a  dream  Christina  entered, 
crossed  the  well-known  hall,  looked  up  to  her  uncle 
and  aunt  on  the  stairs,  perceived  little  change  on 
their  countenances,  and  sank  upon  her  knees,  with 
bowed  head  and  clasped  hands. 

"  My  child !  my  dear  child ! "  exclaimed  her  uncle, 
raising  her  with  one  hand,  and  crossing  her  brow  in 
benediction  with  the  other.  "  Art  thou  indeed  re- 
turned ? "  and  he  embraced  her  tenderly. 

"  Welcome,  fair  niece,"  said  Hausfrau  Johanna, 
more  formally.  "  I  am  right  glad  to  greet  you 
here." 

"  Dear,  dear  mother ! "  cried  Christina,  courting 
her  fond  embrace  by  gestures  of  the  most  eager  af- 
fection, "  how  have  I  longed  for  this  moment !  and, 
above  all,  to  show  you  my  boys !  Herr  uncle  let 
me  present  my  sons — my  Eberhard,  my  Friedmund. 
Oh,  housemother,  are  not  my  twins  well  grown 
lads  ? "  And  she  stood  with  a  hand  on  each,  proud 
that  their  heads  were  so  far  above  her  own,  and 


DO  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE 'S  NEST.  l^^ 

looking  still  so  slight  and  girlish  in  figure  that  she 
might  better  have  been  their  sister  than  their 
mother.  The  cloud  that  the  sudden  light  had  re- 
vealed on  Ebbo's  brow  had  cleared  away,  and  he 
made  an  inclination  neither  awkward  nor  ungracious 
in  its  free  mountain  dignity  and  grace,  but  not 
devoid  of  mountain  rusticity  and  shy  pride,  and  far 
less  cordial  than  was  Friedel's  manner.  Both  were 
infinitely  reheved  to  detect  nothing  of  the  greasy 
burgher,  and  were  greatly  struck  with  the  fine  ven- 
erable head  before  them  ;  indeed,  Friedel  would,  like 
his  mother,  have  knelt  to  ask  a  blessing,  had  he 
not  been  under  command  not  to  outrun  his  brother's 
advances  toward  her  kindred. 

"  Welcome  fair  junkern  !  "  said  Master  Gottfried; 
"welcome  both  for  your  mother's  sake  and  your 
own  !  These  thy  sons,  my  little  one  ? "  he  added, 
smiling.  "  Art  sure  I  neither  dream  nor  see 
double  !  Come  to  the  gallery,  and  let  me  see  thee 
better." 

And  ceremoniously  giving  his  hand,  he  proceeded 
to  lead  his  niece  up  the  stairs,  while  Ebbo,  laboring 
under  ignorance  of  city  forms  and  uncertainty  of 
what  befitted  his  dignity,  presented  his  hand  to  his 
aunt  with  an  air  that  half  amused,  half  offended  the 
shrewd  dame. 

"  All  is  as  if  I  had  left  you  but  yesterday ! "  ex- 
claimed Christina.  "  Uncle  have  you  pardoned 
me  ?  You  bade  me  return  when  my  work  was 
done." 

"I  should  have  known  better,  child.    Such  return 


198  DOVB  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

is  not  to  be  sought  on  this  side  the  grave.  Thy 
work  has  been  more  than  I  then  thought  of." 

"  Ah,  and  now  will  you  deem  it  begun — not  done!  " 
softly  said  Christina,  though  with  too  much  heart- 
felt exultation  greatly  to  doubt  that  all  the  world 
must  be  satisfied  with  two  such  boys,  if  only  Ebbo 
would  be  his  true  self. 

The  luxury  of  the  house,  the  wainscoted  and 
tapestried  walls,  the  polished  furniture,  the  lamps 
and  candles,  the  damask  linen,  the  rich  array  of  sil- 
ver, pewter,  and  brightly-colored  glass,  were  a  great 
contrast  to  the  bare  walls  and  scant  necessaries  of 
Schloss  Adlerstein ;  but  Ebbo  was  resolved  not  to 
expose  himself  by  admiration,  and  did  his  best  to 
stifle  Friedel's  exclamations  of  surprise  and  delight. 
Were  not  these  citizens  to  suppose  that  everything 
was  tenfold  more  costly  at  the  baronial  castle  ? 
And  truly  the  boy  deserved  credit  for  the  consider- 
ation for  his  mother,  which  made  him .  merely  re- 
served, while  he  felt  like  a  wild  eagle  in  a  poultry- 
yard.  It  was  no  small  proof  of  his  affection  to  for- 
bear more  interference  with  his  mother's  happiness 
than  was  the  inevitable  effect  of  that  intuition  which 
made  her  aware  that  he  was  chafing  and  ill  at  ease. 
For  his  sake,  she  allowed  herself  to  be  placed  in  the 
seat  of  honor,  though  she  longed,  as  of  old  to  nestle 
at  her  uncle's  feet,  and  be  again  his  child  ;  but,  even 
while  she  felt  each  acceptance  of  a  token  of  respect 
as  almost  an  injury  to  them,  every  look  and  tone 
was  showing  how  much  the  same  Christina  she  had 
returned. 


DO  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  199 

In  truth,  though  her  life  had  been  mournful  and 
oppressed,  it  had  not  been  such  as  to  age  her  early. 
It  had  been  all  submission  without  wear  and  tear  of 
mind,  and  too  simple  in  its  trials  for  care  and  moil- 
ing ;  so  the  fresh,  lily-like  sweetness  of  her  maiden 
bioom  was  almost  intact,  and,  much  as  she  had 
undergone,  her  once  frail  health  had  been  so  braced 
by  the  mountain  breezes,  that,  though  delicacy  re- 
mained, sickliness  was  gone  from  her  appearance. 
There  was  still  the  exquisite  purity  and  tender 
modesty  of  expression,  but  with  greater  sweetness 
in  the  pensive  brown  eyes. 

"  Ah,  little  one ! "  said  her  uncle,  after  duly  con- 
templating her ;  "  the  change  is  all  for  the  better ! 
Thou  art  grown  a  wondrously  fair  dame.  There 
will  scarce  be  a  lovelier  in  the  kaiserly  train." 

Ebbo  almost  pardoned  his  great-uncle  for  being 
his  great-uncle. 

"  When  she  is  arrayed  as  becomes  the  frau  frei- 
herrinn,"  said  the  housewife  aunt,  looking  with  con- 
cern at  the  coarse  texture  of  her  black  sleeve.  "  I 
long  to  see  our  own  lady  ruffle  it  in  her  new  gear. 
I  am  glad  that  the  lofty  pointed  cap  has  passed  out; 
the  coif  becomes  my  child  far  better,  and  I  see  our 
tastes  still  accord  as  to  fashion." 

"  Fashion  scarce  came  above  the  Debatable  Ford," 
said  Christina  smiling.  "  I  fear  my  boys  look  as  if 
they  came  out  of  the  '  Weltgeschichte,'  for  I  could 
only  shape  their  garments  after  my  remembrance  of 
the  gallants  of  eighteen  years  ago." 

"  Their  garments  are  your  own  shaping ! "  ex- 


200  ^0  YE  IN  THE  EAGLE' 8  NEST, 

claimed  the  aunt,  now  in  an  accent  of  real,  not  con- 
ventional respect. 

"  Spinning  and  weaving,  shaping  and  sewing," 
said  Fried  el,  coming  near  to  let  the  housewife  ex- 
amine the  texture. 

"  Close  woven,  even  threaded,  smooth  tinted !  Ah, 
Stina,  thou  didst  learn  something !  Thou  wert  not 
quite  spoiled  by  the  housefather's  books  and  carv- 
ings." 

"  1  cannot  tell  whose  teachings  have  served  me 
best,  or  been  the  most  precious  to  me,"  said  Chris- 
tina, with  clasped  hands,  looking  from  one  to  an- 
other with  earnest  love. 

''  Thou  art  a  good  child.  Ah  !  little  one,  forgive 
me  ;  you  look  so  like  our  child  that  I  cannot  bear  in 
mind  that  you  are  the  frau  freiherrinn." 

"  JS'ay,  I  should  deem  myself  in  disgrace  with  you, 
did  you  keep  me  at  a  distance,  and  not  thou  me,  as 
your  little  Stina,"  she  fondly  answered,  half  regret- 
ing  her  fond  eager  movement,  as  Ebbo  seemed  to 
shrink  together  with  a  gesture  perceived  by  her 
uncle. 

"  It  is  my  young  lord  there  who  would  not  forgive 
the  freedom,"  he  said  good-humoredly,  though 
gravely. 

"  Not  so,"  Ebbo  forced  himself  to  say ;  "  not  so>  if 
it  makes  my  mother  happy." 

He  held  up  his  head  rather  as  if  he  thought  it  a 
fool's  paradise,  but  Master  Gottfried  answered : 
"  The  noble  freiherr  is,  from  all  I  have  heard,  too 
good  a  son  to  grudge  his  mother's  duteous  love  even 
to  burgher  kmdred." 


DO  VE  m  THE  EA GLE  '8  NEST,  201 

There  was  something  in  the  old  man's  frank, 
dignified  tone  of  grave  reproof  that  at  once  im- 
pressed Ebbo  with  a  sense  of  the  true  superiority  of 
that  wise  and  venerable  old  age  to  his  own  petulant 
baronial  self-assertion.  He  had  both  head  and  heart 
to  feel  the  burgher's  victory,  and  with  a  deep  blush, 
though  not  without  dignity,  he  answered,  "  Truly, 
sir,  my  mother  has  ever  taught  us  to  look  up  to  you 
as  her  kindest  and  best " 

He  was  going  to  say  "  friend,"  but  a  look  into  the 
grand  benignity  of  the  countenance  completed  the 
conquest,  and  he  turned  it  into  "  father."  Friedel 
at  the  same  instant  bent  his  knee,  exclaiming,  *'  It  is 
true  what  Ebbo  says !  "We  have  both  longed  for  this 
day.  Bless  us,  honored  uncle,  as  you  have  blessed 
my  mother." 

For  in  tru  th  there  was  in  the  soul  of  the  boy, 
who  had  never  had  any  but  women  to  look  up  to  a 
strange  yearning  toward  reverence,  which  was 
called  into  action  with  inexpressible  force  by  the 
very  aspect  and  tone  of  such  a  sage  elder  and  coun- 
sellor as  Master  Gottfried  Sorel,  and  he  took  advan- 
tage of  the  first  opening  permitted  by  his  brother. 
And  the  sympathy  always  so  strong  between  the 
two  quickened  the  like  feeling  in  Ebbo,  so  that  the 
same  movement  drew  him  on  his  knee  beside  Friedel 
in  oblivion  or  renunciation  of  all  lordly  pride  toward 
a  kinsman  such  as  he  had  here  encountered. 

"  Truly  and  heartily,  my  fair  youths,"  said  Master 
Gottfried,  with  the  same  kind  dignity,  "  do  I  pray 
the  good  God  to  bless  you,  and  render  you  faithful 


202  DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE' 8  NEST. 

and  loving  sons,  not  only  to  your  mother,  but  to 
your  fatherland." 

He  was  unable  to  distinguish  between  the  two 
exactly  similar  forms  that  knelt  before  him,  yet 
there  was  something  in  the  quivering  of  Friedel's 
head,  which  made  him  press  it  with  a  shade  more  of 
tenderness  than  the  other.  And  in  truth  tears  were 
welling  into  the  eyes  veiled  by  the  fingers  that 
Friedel  clasped  over  his  face,  for  such  a  blessing  was 
strange  and  sweet  to  him. 

Their  mother  was  ready  to  weep  for  joy.  There 
was  now  no  drawback  to  her  bliss,  since  her  son  and 
her  uncle  had  accepted  one  another;  and  she 
repaired  to  her  own  beloved  old  chamber  a  happier 
being  than  she  had  been  since  she  had  left  its  wain- 
scoted walls.  ]N'ay,  as  she  gazed  out  at  the  familiar 
outlines  of  roof  and  tower,  and  felt  herself  truly  at 
home,  then  knelt  by  the  little  undisturbed  altar  of 
her  devotions,  with  the  cross  above  and  her  own 
patron  saint  below  in  carved  wood,  and  the  flowers 
which  the  good  aunt  had  ever  kept  as  a  freshly  re- 
newed offering,  she  felt  that  she  was  happier,  more 
full}^  thankful  and  blissful  than  even  in  the  girlish 
calm  of  her  untroubled  life.  Her  prayer  that  she 
might  come  again  in  peace  had  been  more  than  ful- 
filled ;  nay,  when  she  had  seen  her  boys  kneel  meekly 
to  receive  her  uncle's  blessing,  it  was  in  some  sort  to 
her  as  if  the  work  was  done,  as  if  the  millstone  had 
been  borne  up  for  her,  and  had  borne  her  and  her 
dear  ones  with  it. 

But  there   was  much  to  come.     She  knew  full 


DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST,  203 

well  that,  even  though  her  sons'  first  step  had  been 
in  the  right  direction,  it  was  in  a  path  beset  with 
difficulties;  and  how  would  her  proud  Ebbo  meet 
them? 


204  -DO  VB  IN  TEE  EAGLE'S  NEST, 


CHAPTEK    XIII. 

THE   EAGLETS    IN   THE  CITY. 

After  having  once  accepted  Master  Gottfried, 
Ebbo  froze  toward  him  and  Dame  Johanna  no 
more,  save  that  a  naturally  imperious  temper  now 
and  then  led  to  fitful  stiffnesses  and  momentary 
haughtiness,  which  were  easily  excused  in  one  so 
new  to  the  world  and  afraid  of  compromising  his 
rank.  In  general  he  could  afford  to  enjoy  himself 
with  a  zest  as  hearty  as  that  of  the  simpler-minded 
Friedel. 

They  were  early  afoot,  but  not  before  the  heads 
of  the  household  were  coming  forth  for  the  morning 
devotions  at  the  cathedral;  and  the  streets  were 
stirring  into  activity,  and  becoming  so  peopled  that 
the  boys  supposed  that  it  was  a  great  fair  day. 
They  had  never  seen  so  many  people  together  even 
at  the  Friedmund  "Wake,  and  it  was  several  days  be- 
fore they  ceased  to  exclaim  at  every  passenger  as  a 
new  curiosity. 

The  Dome  Kirk  awed  and  hushed  them.  They 
had  looked  to  it  so  long  that  perhaps  no  sublunary 
thing  could  have  realized  their  expectations,  and 
Friedel  avowed  that  he  did  not  know  what  he 
thought  of  it.    It  was  not  such  as  he  had  dreamed, 


DOVE  IN  THE  E'A OLE 'S  NEST.  ^     205 

and,  like  a  German  as  he  was,  he  added  that  he 
could  not  think,  he  could  only  feel,  that  there  was 
something  ineffable  in  it ;  yet  he  was  almost  disap- 
pointed to  find  his  visions  unfulfilled,  and  the  hues 
of  the  painted  glass  less  pure  and  translucent  than 
those  of  the  ice  crystals  on  the  mountains.  How- 
ever after  his  eye  had  become  trained,  the  deep  in- 
fluence of  its  dim  solemn  majesty,  and  of  the  echoes 
of  its  organ  tones,  and  chants  of  high  praise  or 
earnest  prayer,  began  to  enchain  his  spirit ;  and,  if 
ever  he  were  missing,  he  was  sure  to  be  found  among 
the  mysteries  of  the  cathedral  aisles,  generally  with 
Ebbo,  who  felt  the  spell  of  the  same  grave  fas- 
cination, since  whatever  was  true  of  the  one 
brother  was  generally  true  of  the  other.  They 
were  essentially  alike,  though  some  phases  of  char- 
acter and  taste  were  more  developed  in  the  one  or 
the  other. 

Master  Gottfried  was  much  edified  by  their  per- 
fect knowledge  of  the  names  and  numbers  of  his 
books.  They  instantly,  almost  resentfully,  missed 
the  Cicero's  "  Offices  "  that  he  had  parted  with,  and 
joyfully  hailed  his  new  acquisitions,  often  sitting 
with  heads  together  over  the  same  book,  reading 
like  active-minded  youths  who  were  used  to  out-of- 
door  life  and  exercise  in  superabundant  measure, 
and  to  study  as  a  valued  recreation,  with  only 
food  enough  for  the  intellect  to  awaken  instead  of 
satisfying  it. 

They  were  delighted  to  obtain  instruction  from  a 
traveling  student,    then    attending  the  schools  of 


206  DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST, 

Ulm — a  meek,  timid  lad  who,  for  love  of  learning 
and  desire  of  the  priesthood,  had  endured  frightful 
tyranny  from  the  Bacchanten  or  elder  scholars,  and 
having  at  length  attained  that  rank,  had  so  little 
heart  to  retaliate  on  the  juniors  that  his  contempo- 
raries despised  him,  and  led  him  a  cruel  life  until  he 
obtained  food  and  shelter  from  Master  Gottfried  at 
the  pleasant  cost  of  lessons  to  the  young  barons.  Poor 
Bastien,  this  land  of  quiet,  civility,  and  books  was 
a  foretaste  of  paradise  to  him  after  the  hard  living, 
barbarity,  and  coarse  vices  of  his  comrades,  of  whom 
he  now  and  then  disclosed  traits  that  made  his  pres- 
ent pupils  long  to  give  battle  to  the  big  shaggy 
youths  who  used  to  send  out  the  lesser  lads  to  beg 
and  steal  for  them,  and  cruelly  maltreated  such  as 
failed  in  the  quest. 

Lessons  in  music  and  singing  were  gladly  accepted 
by  both  lads,  and  from  their  uncle's  carving  they 
could  not  keep  their  hands.  Ebbo  had  begun  by  en- 
joining Friedel  to  remember  that  the  work  that  had 
been  sport  in  the  mountains  would  be  basely  me- 
chanical in  the  city,  and  Friedel  as  usual  yielded  his 
private  tastes ;  but  on  the  second  day  Ebbo  himself 
was  discovered  in  the  workshop,  watching  the  magic 
touch  of  the  deft  workman,  and  he  was  soon  so  en- 
ticed by  the  perfect  appliances  as  to  take  tool  in  hand 
and  prove  himself  not  unadroit  in  the  craft.  Frie- 
del however  excelled  in  delicacy  of  touch  and  grace 
and  originality  of  conception,  and  produced  such 
workmanship  that  Master  Gottfried  could  not  help 
stroking  his  hair  and  telling  him  it  was  a  pity  he 
he  was  not  born  to  belong  to  the  guild. 


DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  207 

"  I  cannot  spare  him,  sir,"  cried  Ebbo ;  "  priest, 
scholar,  minstrel,  artist — all  want  him." 

"  What,  Hans  of  all  streets,  Ebbo  ?  "  interrupted 
Friedel. 

"  And  guildmaster  of  none,"  said  Ebbo,  "  save  as  a 
warrior  ;  the  rest  only  enough  for  a  gentleman !  For 
what  I  am  thou  must  be  !  " 

But  Ebbo  did  not  find  fault  with  the  skill  Friedel 
was  bestowing  on  his  work — a  carving  in  wood  of  a 
dove  brooding  over  two  young  eagles — the  device 
that  both  were  resolved  to  assume.  When  their 
mother  asked  what  their  lady-loves  would  say  to 
this,  Ebbo  looked  up,  and  with  the  fullest  conviction 
in  his  lustrous  eyes  declared  that  no  love  should 
ever  rival  his  motherling  in  his  heart.  For  truly 
her  tender  sweetness  had  given  her  sons'  affection  a 
touch  of  romance,  for  which  Master  Gottfried  liked 
them  the  better,  though  his  wife  thought  their 
familiarity  with  her  hardly  accordant  with  the  patri- 
archal discipline  of  the  citizens. 

The  youths  held  aloof  from  these  burghers,  for 
Master  Gottfried  wisely  desired  to  give  them  time 
to  be  tamed  before  running  risk  of  offense,  either 
to,  or  by,  their  wild  shy  pride  ;  and  their  mother 
contrived  to  time  her  meetings  with  her  old  com- 
panions when  her  sons  were  otherwise  occupied. 
Master  Gottfried  made  it  known  that  the  marriage 
portion  he  had  designed  for  his  niece  had  been  in- 
trusted to  a  merchant  trading  in  peltry  to  Muscovy, 
and  the  sum  thus  realized  was  larger  than  any  bride 
had  yet  brought  to  Adlerstein.    Master  Gottfried 


208  DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST, 

would  have  liked  to  continue  the  same  profitable 
speculations  with  it ;  but  this  would  have  been  be- 
yond the  young  baron's  endurance,  and  his  eyes 
sparkled  when  his  mother  spoke  of  repairing  the 
castle,  refitting  the  chapel,  having  a  resident  chap- 
lain, cultivating  more  land,  increasing  the  scanty 
stock  of  cattle,  and  attempting  the  improvements 
hitherto  prevented  by  lack  of  means.  He  fervently 
declared  that  the  motherling  was  more  than  equal 
to  the  wise  spinning  Queen  Bertha  of  legend  and 
lay  ;  and  the  first  pleasant  sense  of  wealth  came  in 
the  acquisition  of  horses,  weapons,  and  braveries. 
In  his  original  mood,  Ebbo  would  rather  have  stood 
before  the  Diet  in  his  home-spun  blue  than  have 
figured  in  cloth  of  gold  at  a  burgher's  expense  ;  but 
he  had  learned  to  love  his  uncle,  he  regarded  the 
marriage  portion  as  family  property,  and  moreover 
he  sorely  longed  to  feel  himself  and  his  brother  well 
mounted,  and  scarcely  less  to  see  his  mother  in  a 
velvet  gown. 

Here  was  his  chief  point  of  sympathy  with  the 
housemother,  who,  herself  precluded  from  wearing 
miniver,  velvet,  or  pearls,  longed  to  deck  her  niece 
therewith  in  time  to  receive  Sir  Kasimir  of  Adler- 
stein  Wildschloss,  as  he  had  promised  to  meet  his 
godsons  at  Ulm.  The  knight's  marriage  had  lasted 
only  a  few  years,  and  had  left  him  no  surviving 
children  except  one  little  daughter,  whom  he  had 
placed  in  a  nunnery  at  Ulm,  under  the  care  of  her 
mother's  sister.  His  lands  lay  higher  up  the  Danube, 
and  he  was  expected  at  Ulm  shortly  before  the 


DO  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST,  209 

emperor's  arrival.  He  had  been  chiefly  in  Flanders 
with  the  king  of  the  Eomans,  and  had  only  returned 
to  Germany  when  the  Netherlanders  had  refused 
the  regency  of  Maximilian,  and  driven  him  out  of 
their  country,  depriving  him  of  the  custody  of  his 
children. 

Pfingsttag,  or  Pentecost-day,  was  the  occasion 
of  Christina's  first  full  toilet,  and  never  was  bride 
more  solicitously  or  exultingly  arrayed  than  she, 
while  one  boy  held  the  mirror  and  the  other  criti- 
cized and  admired  as  the  aunt  adjusted  the  pearl- 
bordered  coif,  and  long  white  veil  floating  over  the 
long-desired  black  velvet  dress.  How  the  two  lads 
admired  and  gazed,  caring  far  less  for  their  own 
new  and  noble  attire !  Friedel  was  indeed  some- 
what concerned  that  the  sword  by  his  side  was  so 
much  handsomer  than  that  which  Ebbo  wore,  and 
which,  for  all  its  dinted  scabbard  and  battered  hilt, 
he  was  resolved  never  to  discard. 

It  was  a  festival  of  brilliant  joy.  Wreaths  of 
flowers  hung  from  the  windows;  rich  tapestries 
decked  the  Dome  Kirk,  and  the  relics  were  displayed 
in  shrines  of  wonderful  costliness  of  material  and 
beauty  of  workmanship ;  little  birds,  with  thin  cakes 
fastened  to  their  feet,  were  let  loose  to  fly  about  the 
church,  in  strange  allusion  to  the  event  of  the  day ; 
the  clergy  wore  their  most  gorgeous  robes  ;  and  the 
exulting  music  of  the  mass  echoed  from  the  vaults 
of  the  long-drawn  aisles,  and  brought  a  rapt  look  of 
deep,  calm  ecstasy  over  Friedel's  sensitive  features. 
The  beggars  evidently  considered  a  festival  as  a 


210  DOVE  IN  TEE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

harvest  day,  and  crowded  round  the  doors  of  the 
cathedral.  As  the  lady  of  Adlerstein  came  out 
leaning  on  Ebbo's  arm,  with  Friedel  on  her  other 
side,  they  evidently  attracted  the  notice  of  a  woman 
whose  thin  brown  face  looked  the  darker  for  the 
striped  red  and  yellow  silk  kerchief  that  bound  the 
dark  locks  round  her  brow,  as,  holding  out  a 
beringed  hand,  she  fastened  her  glittering  jet  black 
eyes  on  them,  and  exclaimed,  "  Alms !  if  the  fair 
dame  and  knightly  junkern  would  hear  what  fate 
has  in  store  for  them." 

"  We  meddle  not  with  the  future,  I  thank  thee," 
said  Christina,  seeing  that  her  sons,  to  whom  gypsies 
were  an  amazing  novelty,  were  in  extreme  surprise 
at  the  fortune-telling  proposal. 

"  Yet  could  I  tell  much,  lady,"  said  the  woman, 
still  standing  in  the  way.  "  What  would  some  here 
present  give  to  know  that  the  locks  that  were 
shrouded  by  the  widow's  veil  ere  ever  they  wore 
the  matron's  coif  shall  yet  return  to  the  coif  once 
more  ? " 

Ebbo  gave  a  sudden  start  of  dismay  and  passion ; 
his  mother  held  him  fast.  "  Push  on,  Ebbo,  mine  ; 
heed  her  not ;  she  is  a  mere  Bohemian." 

"  But  how  knew  she  your  history,  mother  ? " 
asked  Friedel,  eagerly. 

"  That  might  be  easily  learned  at  our  wake,"  began 
Christina ;  but  her  steps  were  checked  by  a  call 
from  Master  Gottfried  just  behind.  "Frau  frei- 
herrinn,  junkern,  not  so  fast.  Here  is  your  noble 
kinsman," 


DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  211 

A  tall,  fine-looking  person,  in  the  long  rich  robe 
worn  on  peaceful  occasions,  stood  forth,  doffing  his 
eagle-plumed  bonnet,  and,  as  the  lady  turned  and 
courtesied  low,  he  put  his  knee  to  the  ground  and 
kissed  her  hand,  saying,  "  Well  met,  noble  dame  ;  I 
felt  certain  that  I  knew  you  when  I  beheld  you  in 
the  dome." 

"  He  was  gazing  at  her  all  the  time,"  whispered 
Ebbo  to  his  brother :  while  their  mother,  blushing, 
replied,  "  You  do  me  too  much  honor,  Herr  Frei- 
herr." 

"  Once  seen,  never  to  be  forgotten,"  was  the 
courteous  answer :  "  and  truly,  but  for  the  stately 
height  of  these  my  godsons,  I  would  not  believe  how 
long  since  our  meeting  was." 

Thereupon,  in  true  German  fashion.  Sir  Kasimir 
embraced  each  youth  in  the  open  street,  and  then, 
removing  his  long,  embroidered  Spanish  glove,  he 
offered  his  hand,  or  rather  the  tips  of  his  fingers,  to 
lead  the  Frau  Christina  home. 

Master  Sorel  had  invited  him  to  become  his  guest 
at  a  very  elaborate  ornamental  festival  meal  in 
honor  of  the  great  holiday,  at  which  were  to  be 
present  several  wealthy  citizens  with  their  wives  and 
families,  old  connections  of  the  Sorel  family.  Ebbo 
had  resolved  upon  treating  them  with  courteous 
reserve  and  distance ;  but  he  was  surprised  to  find 
his  cousin  of  Wildschloss  comporting  himself  among 
the  burgomasters  and  their  dames  as  freely  as 
though  they  had  been  his  equals,  and  to  see  that 
they  took    such    demeanor    as    perfectly  natural. 


212  ^0  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

Quick  to  perceive,  the  boy  gathered  that  the  gulf 
between  noble  and  burgher  was  so  great  that  no 
intimacy  could  bridge  it  over,  no  reserve  widen  it, 
and  that  his  own  bashful  hauteur  was  almost  a 
sign  that  he  knew  that  the  gulf  had  been  passed  by 
his  own  parents ;  but  shame  and  consciousness  did 
not  enable  him  to  alter  his  manner  but  rather  added 
to  its  stiffness. 

"The  junker  is  like  an  Englishman,"  said  Sir 
Kasimir,  who  had  met  many  of  the  exiles  of  the 
Roses  at  the  court  of  Mary  of  Burgundy ;  and  then 
he  turned  to  discuss  with  the  guildmasters  the 
interruption  to  trade  caused  by  Flemish  jealousies. 

After  the  lengthy  meal  the  tables  were  removed, 
the  long  gallery  was  occupied  by  musicians,  and 
Master  Gottfried  crossed  the  hall  to  tell  his  eldest 
grand-nephew  that  to  him  he  should  depute  the 
opening  of  the  dance  with  the  handsome  bride  of 
the  rathsherr,  Ulrich  Burger.  Ebbo  blushed  up  to 
the  eyes,  and  muttered  that  he  prayed  his  uncle  to 
excuse  him. 

"So!"  said  the  old  citizen,  really  displeased; 
"  thy  kinsman  might  have  proved  to  thee  that  it  is 
no  derogation  of  thy  lordly  dignity.  I  have  been 
patient  with  thee,  but  thy  pride  passes " 

"  Sir,"  interposed  Friedel  hastily,  raising  his  sweet 
candid  face  with  a  look  between  shame  and  merri- 
ment, "  it  is  not  that ;  but  you  forget  what  poor 
mountaineers  we  are.  Never  did  we  tread  a  meas- 
ure save  now  and  then  with  our  mother  on  a  winter 
evening,  and  we  know  no  more  than  a  chamois  of 
your  intricate  measures." 


noVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  213 

Master  Gottfried  looked  perplexed,  for  these 
dances  were  matters  of  great  punctilio.  It  was  but 
seven  years  since  the  lord  of  Praunstein  had  defied 
the  whole  city  of  Frankfort  because  a  damsel  of 
that  place  had  refused  to  dance  with  one  of  his 
cousins;  and,  though  "Fistright"  and  letters  of 
challenge  had  been  made  illegal,  yet  the  whole  city 
of  TJlm  would  have  resented  the  affront  put  on  it  by 
the  young  lord  of  Adlerstein.  Happily  the  freiherr 
of  Adlerstein  Wildschloss  was  at  hand.  "Herr 
Burgomaster,"  he  said,  "let  me  commence  the 
dance  with  your  fair  lady  niece.  By  your  testi- 
mony," he  added,  smiling  to  the  youths,  "  she  can 
tread  a  measure.  And,  after  marking  us,  you  may 
try  your  success  with  the  rathsherrinn." 

Christina  would  gladly  have  transferred  her  noble 
partner  to  the  rathsherrinn,  but  she  feared  to  mor- 
tify her  good  uncle  and  aunt  further,  and  con- 
sented to  figure  alone  with  Sir  Kasimir  in  one  of 
the  majestic,  graceful  dances  performed  by  a  single 
couple  before  a  gaziflg  assembly.  So  she  let  him 
lead  her  to  her  place,  and  they  bowed  and  bent, 
swept  past  one  another,  and  moved  in  interlacing 
lines  and  curves,  with  a  grand,  slow  movement  that 
displayed  her  quiet  grace  and  his  stately  port  and 
courtly  air. 

"  Is  it  not  beautiful  to  see  the  motherhng  ? "  said 
Friedel  to  his  brother ;  "  she  sails  like  a  white  cloud 
in  a  soft  wind.  And  he  stands  grand  as  a  stag  at 
gaze." 

"  Like  a  malapert  peacock,  say  I,"  returned  Ebbo ; 


214  DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST, 

"  didst  not  see,  Friedel,  how  he  kept  his  eyes  on  her 
in  church?  My  uncle  says  the  Bohemians  are 
mere  deceivers.  Depend  on  it  the  woman  had 
spied  his  insolent  looks  when  she  made  her  ribald 
prediction." 

"  See,"  said  Friedel,  who  had  been  watching  the 
steps  rather  than  attending,  "it  will  be  easy  to 
dance  it  now.  It  is  a  figure  my  mother  once  tried 
to  teach  us.     I  remember  it  now." 

"  Then  go  and  do  it,  since  better  may  not  be." 

"  ]^ay,  but  it  should  be  thou." 

"  Who  will  know  which  of  us  it  is  ?  I  hated  his 
presumption  too  much  to  mark  his  antics." 

Friedel  came  forward,  and  the  substitution  was 
undetected  by  all  save  their  mother  and  uncle ;  by 
the  latter  only  because,  addressing  Ebbo,  he  re- 
ceived a  reply  in  a  tone  such  as  Friedel  never  used. 

Natural  grace,  quickness  of  ear  and  eye,  and  a 
skillful  partner,  rendered  Friedel's  so  fair  a  per- 
formance that  he  ventured  on  sending  his  brother 
to  attend  the  counciloress  with  wine  and  comfits ; 
while  he  in  his  own  person  performed  another  dance 
with  the  city  dame  next  in  pretension,  and  their 
mother  was  amused  by  Sir  Kasimir's  remark,  that 
her  second  son  danced  better  than  the  elder,  but 
both  must  learn. 

The  remark  displeased  Ebbo.  In  his  isolated 
castle  he  kneAV  no  superior,  and  his  nature  might 
yield  willingly,  but  rebelled  at  being  put  down. 
His  brother  was  his  perfect  equal  in  all  mental  and 
bodily  attributes,  but  it  was  the  absence  of  aU  self- 


DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  215 

assertion  that  made  Ebbo  so  often  give  him  the  pre- 
ference; it  was  his  mother's  tender  meekness  in 
which  lay  her  power  with  him ;  and  if  he  yielded  to 
Gottfried  Sorel's  wisdom  and  experience,  it  was  with 
the  inward  consciousness  of  voluntary  deference  to 
one  of  lower  rank.  But  here  was  Wildschloss,  of 
the  same  noble  blood  with  himself,  his  elder,  his 
sponsor,  his  protector,  with  every  right  to  direct  him, 
so  that  there  was  no  choice  between  grateful  docility 
and  headstrong  folly.  If  the  fellow  had  been  old, 
weak,  or  in  any  way  inferior,  it  would  have  been 
more  bearable ;  but  he  was  a  tried  warrior,  a  sage 
counsellor,  in  the  prime  vigor  of  manhood,  and  with 
a  kindly  reasonable  authority  to  which  only  a  fool 
could  fail  to  attend,  and  which  for  that  very  reason 
chafed  Ebbo  excessively. 

Moreover  there  was  the  gypsy  prophecy  ever 
rankling  in  the  lad's  heart  and  embittering  to  him 
the  sight  of  every  civility  from  his  kinsman  to  his 
mother.  Sir  Kasimir  lodged  at  a  neighboring  hos- 
tel ;  but  he  spent  much  time  with  his  cousins,  and 
tried  to  make  them  friends  with  his  squire.  Count 
Kudiger.  A  great  offense  to  Ebbo  was  however  the 
criticisms  of  both  knight  and  squire  on  the  bearing 
of  the  young  barons  in  military  exercises.  Truly, 
with  no  instructor  but  the  rough  lanzknecht  Heinz, 
they  must,  as  Friedel  said,  have  been  born  paladins 
to  have  equaled  youths  whose  life  had  been  spent 
in  chivalrous  training. 

"  See  us  in  a  downright  fight,"  said  Ebbo ;  "  we 
could  strike  as  hard  as  any  courtly  minion." 


216  J>0  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST, 

"  As  hard,  but  scarce  as  dexterously,"  said  Friedel, 
"  and  be  called  for  our  pains  the  wild  mountaineers. 
I  heard  the  men-at-arms  saying  I  sat  my  horse  as 
though  it  were  always  going  up  or  down  a  preci- 
pice ;  and  Master  Schmidt  went  into  his  shop  the 
other  day  shrugging  his  shoulders  and  saying  we 
hailed  one  another  across  the  market-place  as  if  we 
thought  Ulm  was  a  mountain  full  of  gemsbocks." 

"  Thou  heardst !  and  didst  not  cast  his  insolence 
in  his  teeth  ? "  cried  Ebbo. 

"  How  could  I,"  laughed  Friedel,  "  when  the  echo 
was  casting  back  in  my  teeth  my  own  shout  to  thee  ? 
I  could  only  laugh  with  Kudiger." 

"  The  chief  delight  I  could  have,  next  to  getting 
home,  would  be  to  lay  that  fellow  Eudiger  on  his 
back  in  the  tilt-yard,"  said  Ebbo. 

But,  as  Kudiger  was  by  four  years  his  senior,  and 
very  expert,  the  upshot  of  these  encounters  was 
quite  otherwise,  and  the  young  gentlemen  were  dis- 
abused of  the  notion  that  fighting  came  by  nature, 
and  found  that,  if  they  desired  success  in  a  serious 
conflict,  they  must  practice  diligently  in  the  city 
tilt-yard,  where  young  men  were  trained  to  arms. 
The  crossbow  was  the  only  weapon  with  which  they 
excelled ;  and,  as  shooting  was  a  favorite  exercise  of 
the  burghers,  their  proficiency  was  not  as  exclusive 
as  had  seemed  to  Ebbo  a  baronial  privilege.  Har- 
quebuses were  novelties  to  them,  and  they  despised 
them  as  burgher  weapons,  in  spite  of  Sir  Kasimir's 
assurance  that  firearms  were  a  great  subject  of  study 
and  interest  to  the  king  of  the  Komans.     The  name 


DO  VE  m  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  217 

of  this  personage  was,  it  may  be  feared,  highly  dis- 
tasteful to  the  Freiherr  von  Adlerstein,  both  as 
Wildschloss'  model  of  knightly  perfection,  and  as 
one  who  claimed  submission  from  his  haughty  spirit. 
When  Sir  Kasimir  spoke  to  him  on  the  subject  of 
giving  his  allegiance,  he  stiffly  replied,  "  Sir,  that  is 
a  question  for  ripe  consideration." 

"  It  is  the  question,"  said  Wildschloss,  rather  more 
lightly  than  agreed  with  the  baron's  dignity, 
"  whether  you  like  to  have  your  castle  pulled  down 
about  your  ears." 

"  That  has  never  happened  yet  to  Adlerstein ! " 
said  Ebbo,  proudly. 

"  JSTo,  because  since  the  days  of  the  Hohenstaufen 
there  has  been  neither  rule  nor  union  in  the  empire. 
But  times  are  changing  fast,  my  junker,  and  within 
the  last  ten  years  forty  castles  such  as  yours  have 
been  consumed  by  the  Swabian  League,  as  though 
they  were  so  many  walnuts." 

"  The  shell  of  Adlerstein  was  too  hard  for  them, 
though.     They  never  tried." 

"  And  wherefore,  friend  Eberhard  ?  It  was  be- 
cause I  represented  to  the  kaiser  and  ^the  Graf  von 
Wurtemberg.  that  little  profit  and  no  glory  would 
accrue  from  attacking  a  crag  full  of  Avomen  and 
babes,  and  that  I,  having  the  honor  to  be  your  next 
heir,  should  prefer  having  the  castle  untouched,  and 
under  the  peace  of  the  empire,  so  long  as  that  peace 
was  kept.  When  you  should  come  to  years  of  dis- 
cretion, then  it  would  be  for  you  to  carry  out  the 
intention  wherewith  your  father  and  grandfather 
left  home." 


218  BO  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NESl. 

"  Then  we  have  been  protected  by  the  peace  of 
the  empire  all  this  time  ? "  said  Friedel,  while  Ebbo 
looked  as  if  the  notion  were  hard  of  digestion. 

"  Even  so ;  and,  had  you  not  freely  and  nobly  re- 
leased your  Genoese  merchant,  it  had  gone  hard 
with  Adlerstein." 

"  Could  Adlerstein  be  taken  ? "  demanded  Ebbo 
triumphantly. 

"  Your  grandmother  thought  not,"  said  Sir  Kasi- 
mir,  with  a  shade  of  irony  in  his  tone.  "  It  would 
be  a  troublesome  siege;  but  the  League  numbers 
fifteen  hundred  horse,  and  nine  thousand  foot,  and, 
with  Schlangenwald's  concurrence,  you  would  be 
assuredly  starved  out." 

Ebbo  was  so  much  the  more  stimulated  to  take 
his  chance,  and  do  nothing  on  compulsion ;  but 
Friedel  put  in  the  question  to  what  the  oaths  would 
bind  them. 

"Only  to  aid  the  emperor  with  sword  and 
counsel  in  field  and  Diet,  and  thereby  win  fame 
and  honor  such  as  can  scarce  be  gained  by  carrying 
prey  to  yon  eagle  roost." 

"  One  may  preserve  one's  independence  without 
robbery,"  said  Ebbo,  coldly. 

"  Nay,  lad :  did  you  ever  hear  of  a  wolf  that  could 
live  without  marauding  ?  Or  if  he  tried,  would  he 
get  credit  for  so  doing  ? " 

"  After  all,"  said  Friedel,  "  does  not  the  present 
agreement  hold  till  we  are  of  age  ?  I  suppose  the 
Swabian  League  would  attempt  nothing  against 
minors,  unless  we  break  the  peace  ?" 


DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  219 

"  Probably  not ;  I  will  do  my  utmost  to  give  the 
freiherr  there  time  to  grow  beyond  his  grand- 
mother's maxims,"  said  Wildschloss.  "If  Schlan- 
genwald  do  not  meddle  in  the  matter,  he  may  have 
the  next  five  years  to  decide  whether  Adlerstein 
can  hold  out  against  all  Germany." 

"  Freiherr  Kasimir  von  Adlerstein  "Wildschloss," 
said  Eberhard,  turning  solemnly  on  him, "  I  do  you  to 
wit  once  for  all  that  threats  will  not  serve  with  me. 
If  I  submit,  it  will  be  because  I  am  convinced  it  is 
right.  Otherwise  we  had  rather  both  be  buried  in 
the  ruins  of  our  castle,  as  its  last  free  lords." 

"  So !"  said  the  provoking  kinsman  ;  "  such  burials 
look  grim  when  the  time  comes,  but  happily  it  is 
not  coming  yet !" 

Meantime,  as  Ebbo  said  to  Friedel,  how  much 
might  happen — a  disruption  of  the  empire,  a  crusade 
against  the  Turks,  a  war  in  Italy,  some  grand  means 
of  making  the  Diet  value  the  sword  of  a  free  baron, 
without  chaining  him  down  to  gratify  the  greed 
of  hungry  Austria.  If  only  Wildschloss  could  be 
shaken  off  !  But  he  only  became  constantly  more 
friendly  and  intrusive,  almost  paternal.  IS'o  wonder, 
when  the  mother  and  her  uncle  made  him  so  wel- 
come, and  were  so  intolerably  grateful  for  his  im- 
pertinent interference,  while  even  Friedel  confessed 
the  reasonableness  of  his  counsels,  as  if  that  were 
not  the  very  sting  of  them. 

He  even  asked  leave  to  bring  his  little  daughter 
Thekla  from  her  convent  to  see  the  lady  of  Adler- 
stein.   She  was  a  pretty,  flaxen-haired  maiden  of 


220  I>0  YE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST, 

five  years  old,  in  a  round  cap,  and  long  narrow 
frock,  with  a  little  cross  at  the  neck.  She  had 
never  seen  any  one  beyond  the  walls  of  the  nunnery; 
and,  when  her  father  took  her  from  the  lay  sister's 
arm's,  and  carried  her  to  the  gallery,  where  sat 
Hausfrau  Johanna,  in  dark  green,  slashed  with 
cherry  color.  Master  Gottfried,  in  sober  crimson, 
with  gold  medal  and  chain,  Freiherrinn  Christina, 
in  silver-broidered  black,  and  the  two  junkern  stood 
near  in  the  shining  mail  in  which  they  were  going 
to  the  tilt  yard,  she  turned  her  head  in  terror, 
struggled  with  her  scarce-known  father,  and  shrieked 
for  Sister  Grethel. 

"  It  was  all  too  sheen,"  she  sobbed,  in  the  lay  sis- 
ter's arms  ;  "  she  did  not  want  to  be  in  paradise  yet, 
among  the  saints !  Oh !  take  her  back !  The  two 
bright,  holy  Michaels  would  let  her  go,  for  indeed 
she  had  made  but  one  mistake  in  her  Ave." 

Yain  was  the  attempt  to  make  her  lift  her  face 
from  the  black  serge  shoulder  where  she  had  hidden 
it.  Sister  Grethel  coaxed  and  scolded.  Sir  Kasimir 
reproved,  the  housemother  offered  comfits,  and 
Christina's  soft  voice  was  worst  of  all,  for  the  child, 
probably  taking  her  for  Our  Lady  hei^elf,  began  to 
gasp  forth  a  general  confession.  "  I  will  never  do  so 
again !     Yes,  it  was  a  fib,  but  Mother  Hildegard 

gave  me  a  bit  of  marchpane  not  to  tell "     Here 

the  lay  sister  took  strong  measures  for  closing  the 
little  mouth,  and  Christina  drew  back,  recommend- 
ing that  the  child  should  be  left  gradually  to  dis- 
cover their  terrestrial  nature.    Ebbo  had  looked  on 


DOVE  IN  TEE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  221 

with  extreme  disgust,  trying  to  hurry  Friedel,  who 
had  delayed  to  trace  some  lines  for  his  mother  on 
her  broidery  pattern.  In  passing  the  step  where 
Grethel  sat  with  Thekla  on  her  lap,  the  clank  of 
their  armor  caused  the  uplifting  of  the  little  flaxen 
head,  and  two  wide,  blue  eyes  looked  over  Grethel's 
shoulder,  and  met  Friedel's  sunny  glance.  He 
smiled ;  she  laughed  back  again.  He  held  out  his 
arms,  and,  though  his  hands  were  gauntleted,  she 
let  him  lift  her  up,  and  curiously  smoothed  and 
patted  his  cheek,  as  if  he  had  been  a  strange  ani- 
mal. 

"  You  have  no  wings,"  she  said.  "  Are  you  St. 
George,  or  St.  Michael  ? " 

"  JS'either  the  one  nor  the  other,  pretty  one.  Only 
your  poor  cousin  Friedel  von  Adlerstein,  and  here  is 
Ebbo,  my  brother." 

It  was  not  in  Ebbo's  nature  not  to  ^mile  encour- 
agement at  the  fair  little  face,  with  its  wistful  look. 
He  drew  off  his  glove  to  caress  her  silken  hair,  and 
for  a  few  minutes  she  was  played  with  by  the  two 
brothers  like  a  newly-invented  toy,  receiving  their 
attentions  with  a  pretty  half-frightened  gracious- 
ness,  until  Count  Rudiger  hastened  in  to  summon 
them,  and  Friedel  placed  her  on  his  mother's  knee, 
where  she  speedily  became  perfectly  happy,  and  at 
ease. 

Her  extreme  delight,  when  toward  evening  the 
junkern  returned,  was  flattering  even  to  Ebbo ;  and, 
when  it  was  time  for  her  to  be  taken  home,  she 
made  strong  resistance,  clinging  fast  to  Christina, 


222  1)0  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

with  screams  and  struggles.  To  the  lady's  promise 
of  coming  to  see  her  she  replied, "  Friedel  and  Ebbo, 
too,"  and,  receiving  no  response  to  this  request,  she 
burst  out,  "  Then  I  won't  come !  I  am  the  Freiher- 
rin  Thekla,  the  heiress  of  Adlerstein  Wildschloss 
and  Felsenbach.  I  won't  be  a  nun !  I'll  be  mar- 
ried !  You  shall  be  my  husband,"  and  she  made  a 
dart  at  the  nearest  youth,  who  happened  to  be 
Ebbo. 

"  Ay,  ay,  you  shall  have  him.  He  will  come  for 
you,  sweetest  fraulein,"  said  the  perplexed  Grethel, 
"  so  only  you  will  come  home !  Nobody  will  come 
for  you  if  you  are  naughty." 

"  Will  you  come  if  I  am  good  ?  "  said  the  spoiled 
cloister  pet,  clinging  tight  to  Ebbo. 

"  Yes,"  said  her  father,  as  she  still  resisted,  "  come 
back,  my  child,  and  one  day  shall  you  see  Ebbo,  and 
have  him  for  a  brother." 

Thereat  Ebbo  shook  off  the  little  grasping  fingers, 
almost  as  if  they  had  belonged  to  a  noxious  insect. 

"  The  matron's  coif  should  succeed  the  widow's 
veil."  He  might  talk  with  scholarly  contempt  of 
the  new  race  of  Bohemian  imposters ;  but  there  was 
no  forgetting  that  sentence.  And  in  Hke  manner, 
though  his  grand-mother's  allegation  that  his  mother 
had  been  bent  on  captivating  Sir  Kasimir  in  that 
single  interview  at  Adlerstein,  had  always  seemed 
to  him  the  most  preposterous  of  all  Kunigunde's 
forms  of  outrage,  the  recollection  would  recur  to 
him ;  and  he  could  have  found  it  in  his  heart  to 
wish  that  his  mother  had  never  heard  of  the  old 


DO  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE* 8  NEST.  223 

lady's  designs  as  to  the  oubliette.  He  did  most 
sincerely  wish  Master  Gottfried  had  never  let 
Wildschloss  know  of  the  mode  in  which  his  life  had 
been  saved.  Yet,  while  it  would  have  seemed  to 
him  profane  to  breathe  even  to  Friedel  the  true 
secret  of  his  repugnance  to  this  meddlesome  kins- 
man, it  was  absolutely  impossible  to  avoid  his  most 
distasteful  authority  and  patronage. 

And  the  mother  herself  was  gently,  thankfully 
happy  and  unsuspicious,  basking  in  the  tender  home 
affection  of  which  she  had  so  long  been  deprived, 
proud  of  her  sons,  and,  though  anxious  as  to  Ebbo's 
decision,  with  a  quiet  trust  in  his  foundation  of 
r>rincipal,  and  above  all  trusting  to  prayer. 


2U  I>0  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 


CHAPTER  XIY. 

THE   DOtTDLE-HEADED   EAGLE. 

One  summer  evening,  when  shooting  at  a  bird 
on  a  pole  was  in  full  exercise  in  the  tilt-yard,  the 
sports  were  interrupted  by  a  message  from  the 
provost  that  a  harbinger  had  brought  tidings  that 
the  imperial  court  was  within  a  day's  journey. 

All  was  preparation.  Fresh  sand  had  to  be  strewn 
on  the  arena.  New  tapestry  hangings  were  to  deck 
the  galleries,  the  houses  and  balconies  to  be  brave 
with  drapery,  the  fountain  in  the  market-place  was 
to  play  Rhine  wine,  all  Ulm  was  astir  to  do  honor 
to  itself  and  to  the  kaiser,  and  Ebbo  stood  amid  all 
the  bustle,  drawing  lines  in  the  sand  with  the  stock 
of  his  arblast,  subject  to  all  that  oppressive  self- 
magnification  so  frequent  in  early  youth,  and  which 
made  it  seem  to  him  as  if  the  kaiser  and  the  king 
of  the  Romans  were  coming  to  Ulm  with  the  mere 
purpose  of  destroying  his  independence,  and  as  if 
the  eyes  of  all  Germany  were  watching  for  his 
humiliation. 

"  See  !  see !  suddenly  exclaimed  Friedel ;  "  look ! 
there  is  something  among  the  tracery  of  the  Dome 
Kirk  tower.     Is  it  man  or  bird  ? " 

"  Bird,  folly !    Thou  couldst  see  no  bird  less  than 


DO  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  225 

an  eagle  from  hence,"  said  Ebbo.  "  J^o  doubt  they 
are  about  to  hoist  a  banner. 

"  That  is  not  their  wont,"  returned  Sir  Kasimir. 

"  I  see  him,"  interrupted  Ebbo.  "  Nay,  but  he  is 
a  bold  climber !  We  went  up  to  that  stage, 
close  to  the  balcony,  but  there's  no  footing  beyond 
but  crockets  and  canopies." 

"  And  a  bit  of  rotten  scaffold,"  added  Friedel. 
"  Perhaps  he  is  a  builder  going  to  examine  it !  Up 
higher,  higher ! " 

"  A  builder !  "  said  Ebbo ;  "  a  man  with  a  head 
and  foot  like  that  should  be  a  chamois  hunter ! 
Shouldst  thou  deem  it  worse  than  the  Eed  Eyrie, 
Eriedel?" 

"Yes,  truly!  The  depth  beneath  is  plainer! 
There  would  be  no  climbing  there  without " 

"  Without  what,  cousin  ! "  asked  Wildschloss. 

"  Without  great  cause,"  said  Friedel.  "  It  is  fear- 
ful !     He  is  like  a  fly  against  the  sky." 

"  Beaten  again ! "  muttered  Ebbo ;  "  I  did  think 
that  none  of  these  town-bred  fellows  could  surpass 
us  when  it  came  to  a  giddy  height !  Who  can  he 
be?" 

"  Look !  look ! "  burst  out  Friedel.  "  The  saints 
proter^t  him !  He  is  on  that  narrowest  topmost  ledge 
— measuring ;  his  heel  is  over  the  parapet — half  his 
foot!" 

"  Holding  on  by  the  rotten  scaffold  pole !  St. 
Barbara  be  his  speed ;  but  he  is  a  brave  man ! " 
shouted  Ebbo.     "  Oh  !  the  pole  has  broken." 

"  Heaven  foref end ! "  cried  Wildschloss,  with  de- 


226  DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

spair  on  his  face  unseen  by  the  boys,  for  Friedel  had 
hidden  his  eyes,  and  Ebbo  was  straining  his  with 
the  intense  gaze  of  horror.  He  had  carried  his 
glance  downward,  following  the  three  hundred  and 
eighty  feet  fall  that  must  be  the  lot  of  the  adventurer 
Then  looking  upagain  he  shouted,  "  I  see  him !  I  see 
him !  Praise  to  St.  Barbara !  He  is  safe !  He  has 
caught  by  the  upright  stone  work." 

"  Where  ?  where  ?  Show  me ! "  cried  Wildschloss, 
grasping  Ebbo's  arm. 

"  There !  clinging  to  that  upright  bit  of  tracery, 
stretching  his  foot  out  to  yonder  crocket." 

"  I  cannot  see.  Mine  eyes  swim  and  dazzle,"  said 
"Wildschloss,  "Merciful  heavens!  is  this  another 
tempting  of  Providence  ?  How  is  it  with  him  now, 
Ebbo?" 

"  Swarming  down  another  slender  bit  of  the  stone 
network.  It  must  be  easy  now  to  one  who  could 
keep  head  and  hand  steady  in  such  a  shock." 

"  There !  "  added  Friedel,  after  a  breathless  space, 
"  he  is  on  the  lower  parapet,  whence  begins  the 
stair.     Do  you  know  him,  sir  ?    Who  is  he  ? " 

"Either  a  Venetian  mountebank,"  said  Wild- 
schloss, "or  else  there  is  only  one  man  I  know  of  either 
so  foolhardy  or  so  steady  of  head." 

"  Be  he  who  he  may,"  said  Ebbo,  "  he  is  the 
bravest  man  that  ever  I  beheld.  Who  is  he.  Sir 
Kasimir  ?  " 

"  An  eagle  of  higher  flight  than  ours,  no  doubt," 
said  Wildschloss.  "  But  come  ;  we  shall  reach  the 
Dome  Kirk  by  the  time  the  climber  has  wound  his 


DO  VE  m  THE  EA  OLE  '8  NEST.  227 

way  down  the  turret  stairs,  and  we  shall  see  what 
like  he  is." 

Their  coming  was  well  timed,  for  a  small  door 
at  the  foot  of  the  tower  was  just  opening  to  give  exit 
to  a  very  tall  knight,  in  one  of  those  short  Spanish 
cloaks  the  collar  of  which  could  be  raised  so  as  to 
conceal  the  face.  He  looked  to  the  right  and  left, 
and  had  one  hand  raised  to  put  up  the  collar  when  he 
recognized  Sir  Kasimir,  and  holding  out  both  hands 
exclaimed,  "  Ha,  Adlerstein  !  well  met !  I  looked 
to  see  thee  here.  No  unbonneting ;  I  am  not  come 
yet.  I  am  at  Strasburg,  with  the  kaiser  and  the 
archduke,  and  am  not  here  till  we.ride  in,  in  purple 
and  in  pall  by  the  time  the  good  folk  have  hung  out 
their  arras,  and  donned  their  gold  chains,  and 
conned  their  speeches,  and  mounted  their  mules." 

"  Well  that  their  speeches  are  not  over  the  lyke- 
wake  of  his  kingly  kaiserly  highness,"  gravely  re- 
turned Sir  Kasimir. 

"  Ha  ?  Thou  sawest  ?  I  came  out  here  to  avoid 
the  gaping  throng,  who  don't  know  what  a  hunter 
can  do.  I  have  been  in  worse  case  in  the  Tyrol. 
Snowdrifts  are  worse  footing  than  stone  vine 
leaves." 

"  Where  abides  your  highness  ? "  asked  Wild- 
schloss. 

"  I  ride  back  again  to  the  halting-place  for  the 
night,  and  meet  my  father  in  time  to  do  my  part  in 
the  pageant.  I  was  sick  of  the  addresses,  and, 
moreover,  the  purse-proud  Flemings  have  made  such 
a  stiff  little  fop  of  my  poor  boy  that  I  am  ashamed 


228  DOVB  IN  THE  BAGLE'8  NEST. 

to  look  at  him,  or  hear  his  French  accent.  So  I 
rode  off  to  get  a  view  of  this  notable  dom  in  peace, 
ere  it  be  bedizened  in  holiday  garb  ;  and  one  can't 
stir  without  all  the  chapter  waddling  after  one." 

"  Your  highness  has  found  means  of  distancing 
them." 

"  Why,  truly,  the  prior  would  scarce  delight  in 
the  view  from  yonder  parapet,"  laughed  his  high- 
ness. "Ha!  Adlerstein,  where  didst  get  such  a 
perfect  pair  of  pages  ?  I  would  I  could  match  my 
hounds  as  well." 

"  They  are  no  pages  of  mine,  so  please  you,"  said 
the  knight ;  rather  this  is  the  head  of  my  name. 
Let  me  present  to  your  kingly  highness  the  Frieherr 
von  Adlerstein." 

"Thou  dost  not  thyself  distinguish  between 
them ! "  said  Maximilian,  as  Friedraund  stepped  back, 
putting  forward  Eberhard,  whose  bright,  lively  smile 
of  interest  and  admiration  had  been  the  cause  of  his 
cousin's  mistake.  They  would  have  doffed  their 
caps  and  bent  the  knee,  but  were  hastily  checked  by 
Maximilian.  "  IS'o,  no,  junkern,  I  shall  owe  you  no 
thanks  for  bringing  all  the  street  on  me ! — that's 
enough.  Reserve  the  rest  for  Kaiser  Fritz."  Then, 
familiarly  taking  Sir  Kasimir's  arm,  he  walked  on, 
saying,  "  I  remember  now.  Thou  wentest  after  an 
inheritance  from  the  old  Mouser  of  the  Debatable 
Ford,  and  wert  ousted  by  a  couple  of  lusty  boys 
sprung  of  a  peasant  wedlock." 

"  Nay,  my  lord,  of  a  burgher  lady,  fair  as  she  is 
wise  and  virtuous;    who,  spite  of  all  hindrances, 


DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  229 

has  bred  up  these  youths  in  all  good  and  noble 
nurture." 

"  Is  this  so  ? "  said  the  king,  turning  sharp  round 
on  the  twins.  "  Are  ye  minded  to  quit  freebooting, 
and  Gome  a  crusading  against  the  Turks  with  me  ? " 

"  Everywhere  with  such  a  leader  !  "  enthusiastic- 
ally exclaimed  Ebbo. 

"  What  ?  up  there  ?  "  said  Maximilian,  smiling. 
"  Thou  hast  the  tread  of  a  chamois-hunter." 

"  Friedel  has  been  on  the  Ked  Eyrie,"  exclaimed 
Ebbo ;  then,  thinking  he  had  spoken  foolishly,  he 
colored. 

"Which  is  the  Ked  Eyrie?"  good-humoredly 
asked  the  king. 

"  It  is  the  crag  above  our  castle,"  said  Friedel, 
modestly. 

"ISTone  other  has  been  there,"  added  Ebbo,  per- 
ceiving his  auditor's  interest ;  "  but  he  saw  the  eagle 
flying  away  with  a  poor  widow's  kid,  and  the  sight 
must  have  given  him  wings,  for  we  never  could  find 
the  same  path ;  but  here  is  one  of  the  feathers  he 
brought  down  " — taking  off  his  cap  so  as  to  show  a 
feather  rather  the  worse  for  wear,  and  sheltered  be- 
hind a  fresher  one. 

"Nay,"  said  Friedel,  "thou  shouldst  say  that  I 
came  to  a  ledge  where  I  had  like  to  have  stayed  all 
night,  but  that  ye  all  came  out  with  men  and  ropes." 

"  We  know  what  such  a  case  is  ! "  said  the  king. 
"  It  has  chanced  to  us  to  hang  between  heaven  and 
earth ;  I've  even  had  the  Holy  Sacrament  held  up 
for  my  last  pious  gaze  by  those  who  gave  me  up  for 


230  -DO  V£}  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  If  EST, 

lost  on  the  mountain-side.  Adlerstein  ?  The  peak 
above  the  Braunwusser  ?  Some  day  shall  ye  show 
me  this  eyrie  of  yours,  and  we  will  see  whether  we 
can  amaze  our  cousins  the  eagles.  We  see  you  at 
our  father's  court  to-morrow  ? "  he  graciously  added, 
and  Ebbo  gave  a  ready  bow  of  acquiescence. 

"  There,"  said  the  king,  as  after  their  dismissal  he 
walked  on  with  Sir  Kasimir,  "  never  blame  me  for 
rashness  and  imprudence.  Here  has  this  height  of 
the  steeple  proved  the  height  of  policy.  It  has  made 
a  loyal  subject  of  a  Mouser  on  the  spot." 

"Pray  heaven  it  may  have  won  a  heart,  true 
though  proud !  "  said  Wildschloss;  "  but  mousing  was 
cured  before  by  the  wise  training  of  the  mother. 
Your  highness  will  have  taken  out  the  sting  of  sub- 
mission, and  you  will  scarce  find  more  faithful  sub- 
jects." 

"  How  old  are  the  junkern  ?  " 

"  Some  sixteen  years,  your  highness." 

"  That  is  what  living  among  mountains  does 
for  a  lad.  Why  could  not  those  thrice-accursed 
Flemish  towns  let  .me  breed  up  my  boy  to  be  good 
for  something  in  the  mountains,  instead  of  getting 
duck-footed  and  muddy-witted  in  the  fens  ?  " 

In  the  meantime  Ebbo  and  Freidel  were  returning 
home  in  that  sort  of  passi'on  of  enthusiasm  that  in- 
genuous boyhood  feels  when  first  brought  into  con- 
tact with  greatness  or  brilliant  qualities. 

And  brilliance  was  the  striking  point  in  Maxi- 
milian. The  last  of  the  knights,  in  spite  of  his 
many  defects,  was,  by  personal  qualities,  and  the 


DOVB  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST,  231 

hereditary  influence  of  long  descended  rank,  verily 
a  king  of  men  in  aspect  and  demeanor,  even  when 
most  careless  and  simple.  He  was  at  this  time  a 
year  or  two  past  thirty,  unusually  tall,  and  with  a 
form  at  once  majestic  and  full  of  vigor  and  activity; 
a  noble,  fair,  though  sunburned  countenance ;  eyes 
of  dark  gray,  almost  black ;  long  fair  hair,  a  keen 
aquiline  nose,  a  hp  only  beginning  to  lengthen  to  the 
characteristic  Austrian  feature,  an  expression  always 
lofty,  sometimes  dreamy,  and  yet  at  the  same  time 
full  of  acuteness  and  humor.  His  abilities  were  of 
the  highest  order,  his  purposes,  especially  at  this 
period  of  his  life,  most  noble  and  becoming  in  the 
first  prince  of  Christendom ;  and,  if  his  life  were  a 
failure,  and  his  reputation  unworthy  of  his  endow- 
ments, the  cause  seems  to  have  been  in  great  meas- 
ure the  bewilderment  and  confusion  that  unusual 
gifts  sometimes  cause  to  their  possessor,  whose  sight 
their  conflicting  illumination  dazzles  so  as  to  impair 
his  steadiness  of  aim,  while  their  contending  gleams 
light  him  into  various  directions,  so  that  one  object 
is  deserted  for  another  ere  its  completion.  Thus 
Maximilian  cuts  a  figure  in  history  far  inferior  to 
that  made  by  his  grandson,  Charles  Y.,  whom  he 
nevertheless  excelled  in  every  personal  quality,  ex- 
cept the  most  needful  of  all,  force  of  character ;  and, 
in  like  manner,  his  remote  descendant,  the  narrow- 
minded  Ferdinand  of  Styria  gained  his  ends,  though 
the  able  and  brilliant  Joseph  II.  was  to  die  broken- 
hearted, calling  his  reign  a  failure  and  mistake. 
However,  such  terms  as  these  could  not  be  applied 


232  DOVE  IN  TEE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

to  Maximilian  with  regard  to  home  affairs.  He  has 
had  hard  measure  from  those  who  have  only  re- 
garded his  vacillating  foreign  policy,  especially  with 
respect  to  Italy — ever  the  temptation  and  the  bane 
of  Austria ;  but  even  here  much  of  his  uncertain  con- 
duct was  o\ving  to  the  unfulfilled  promises  of  what 
he  himself  called  his  "  realm  of  kings,"  and  a  sov- 
ereign can  only  justly  be  estimated  by  his  domestic 
policy.  The  contrast  of  the  empire  before  his  time 
with  the  subsequent  Germany  is  that  of  chaos  with 
order.  Since  the  death  of  Friedrich  II.,  the  imperial 
title  had  been  a  mockery,  making  the  prince  who 
chanced  to  bear  it  a  mere  mark  for  the  spite  of  his 
rivals ;  there  was  no  center  of  justice,  no  appeal ; 
everybody  might  make  war  on  everybody,  with  the 
sole  preliminary  of  exchanging  a  challenge  ;  "  fist- 
right  "  was  the  acknowledged  law  of  the  land  ;  and, 
except  in  the  free  cities,  and  under  such  a  happy 
accident  as  a  right-minded  prince  here  and  there, 
the  state  of  Germany  seems  to  have  been  rather 
worse  than  that  of  Scotland  from  Bruce  to  the  union 
of  the  crowns.  Under  Maximihan,  the  Diet  became 
an  effective  council,  fist-right  was  abolished,  inde- 
pendent robber-lords  put  down,  civilization  began 
to  effect  an  entrance,  the  system  of  circles  was  ar- 
ranged, and  the  empire  again  became  a  leading 
power  in  Europe,  instead  of  a  mere  vortex  of  disorder 
and  misrule.  ISTever  would  Charles  Y.  have  held 
the  position  he  occupied  had  he  come  after  an  ordi- 
nary man,  instead  of  after  an  able  and  sagacious  re- 
former like  that  Maximilian  who  is  popularly  re- 


DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NE8T.  233 

garded  as  a  fantastic  caricature  of  a  knight-errant, 
marred  by  avarice  and  weakness  of  purpose. 

At  the  juncture  of  which  we  are  writing,  none  of 
Maximilian's  less  worthy  qualities  had  appeared  ;  he 
had  not  been  rendered  shifty  and  unscrupulous  by 
difficulties  and  disappointments  in  money  matters, 
and  had  not  found  it  impossible  to  keep  many  of  the 
promises  he  had  given  in  all  good  faith.  He  stood 
forth  as  the  hope  of  Germany,  in  salient  contrast  to 
the  feeble  and  avaricious  father,  who  was  felt  to  be 
the  only  obstacle  in  the  way  of  his  noble  designs  of 
establishing  peace  and  good  discipline  in  the  empire, 
and  conducting  a  general  crusade  against  the  Turks, 
whose  progress  was  the  most  threatening  peril  of 
Christendom.  His  fame  was,  of  course,  frequently 
discussed  among  the  citizens,  with  whom  he  Avas 
very  popular,  not  only  from  his  ease  and  freedom  of 
manner,  but  because  his  graceful  tastes,  his  love  of 
painting,  sculpture,  architecture,  and  the  mechanical 
turn  which  made  him  an  improver  of  firearms  and 
a  patron  of  painting  and  engraving,  rendered  their 
society  more  agreeable  to  him  than  that  of  his  dull, 
barbarous  nobility.  Ebbo  had  heard  so  much  of 
the  perfections  of  the  king  of  the  Romans  as  to  be 
prepared  to  hate  him ;  but  the  boy,  as  we  have 
seen,  was  of  a  generous,  sensitive  nature,  peculiarly 
prone  to  enthusiastic  impressions  of  veneration ;  and 
Maximilian's  high-spirited  manhood,  personal  fas- 
cination, and  individual  kindness  had  so  entirely 
taken  him  by  surprise,  that  he  talked  of  him  all 
the  evening  in  a  more  fervid  manner  than  did  even 


234  I>0  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST, 

Friedel,  though  both  could  scarcely  rest  for  their  an- 
ticipations of  seeing  him  on  the  morrow  in  the  full 
state  of  his  entry. 

Richly  clad,  and  mounted  on  cream-colored 
steeds,  nearly  as  much  alike  as  themselves,  the 
twins  were  a  pleasant  sight  for  a  proud  mother's 
eyes,  as  they  rode  out  to  take  their  place  in  the 
procession  that  was  to  welcome  the  royal  guests. 
Master  Sorel  in  ample  gown,  richly  furred,  with 
medal  and  chain  of  office,  likewise  went  forth  as 
guildmaster;  and  Christina,  with  smiling  lips  and 
liquid  eyes,  recollected  the  days  when  to  see  him  in 
such  array  was  her  keenest  pleasure,  and  the  utmost 
splendor  her  fancy  could  depict. 

Arrayed,  as  her  sons  loved  to  see  her,  in  black 
velvet,  and  with  •pearl-bordered  cap,  Christina  sat  by 
her  aunt  in  the  tapestried  balcony,  and  between 
them  stood  or  sat  little  Thekla  von  Adlerstein 
Wildschloss,  whose  father  had  entrusted  her  to  their 
care,  to  see  the  procession  pass  by.  A  rich  eastern 
carpet  of  gorgeous  coloring  covered  the  upper  bal- 
ustrade, over  which  they  leaned,  in  somewhat  close 
quarters  with  the  scarlet-bodiced  dames  of  the  op- 
posite house,  but  with  ample  space  for  sight  up  and 
down  the  rows  of  smiling  expectants  at  each  bal- 
cony, or  window,  equally  gay  with  hangings,  while 
the  bells  of  all  the  churches  clashed  forth  their  gay- 
est chimes,  and  fitful  bursts  of  music  were  borne 
upon  the  breeze.  Little  Thekla  danced  in  the  nar- 
row space  for  very  glee,  and  wondered  why  any  one 
should  live  in  a  cloister  when  the  world  was  so  wide 


BOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  235 

and  so  fair.  And  Dame  Johanna  tried  to  say  some- 
thing pious  of  worldly  temptations,  and  the  cloister 
shelter ;  but  Thekla  interrupted  her,  and,  clinging  to 
Christina,  exclaimed, "  Nay,  but  I  am  always  naughty 
with  Mother  Ludmilla  in  the  convent,  and  I  know  I 
should  never  be  naughty  out  here  with  you  and  the 
barons ;  I  should  be  so  happy." 

"  Hush !  hush !  little  one ;  here  they  come ! " 
On  they  came — stout  lanzknechts  first,  the  city 
guard  with  steel  helmets  unadorned,  buff  suits,  and 
bearing  either  harquebuses,  halberds,  or  those  hand- 
some but  terrible  weapons,  morning  stars.  Then 
followed  guild  after  guild,  each  preceded  by  the 
banner  bearing  its  homely  emblem-^ the  caldron 
of  the  smiths,  the  hose  of  the  clothiers,  the  helmet 
of  the  armorers,  the  basin  of  the  barbers,  the  boot 
of  the  sutors ;  even  the  sausage  of  the  cooks,  and 
the  shoe  of  the  shoeblacks  were  represented,  as  by 
men  who  gloried  in  the  calling  in  which  they  did 
life's  duty  and  task. 

First  in  each  of  these  bands  marched  the  pren- 
tices, stout,  broad,  flat-faced  lads,  from  twenty  to 
fourteen  years  of  age,  with  hair  like  tow  hanging 
from  under  their  blue  caps,  staves  in  their  hands, 
and  knives  at  their  girdles.  Behind  them  came  the 
journeymen,  in  leathern  jerkins  and  steel  caps,  and 
armed  with  halberds  or  crossbows ;  men  of  all  ages, 
from  sixty  to  one  or  two  and  twenty,  and  many  of 
the  younger  ones  with  foreign  countenances  and 
garb  betokening  that  they  were  strangers  spending 
part  of  their  wandering  years  in  studying  the  Ulm 


236  BOYE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

fashions  of  their  craft.  Each  trade  showed  a  large 
array  of  these  juniors ;  but  the  masters  who  came 
behind  were  comparatively  few,  mostly  elderly, 
long-gowned,  gold-chained  personages,  with  a  weight 
of  solid  dignity  on  their  wise  brows — men  who  re- 
spected themselves,  made  others  respect  them,  and 
kept  their  city  a  peaceful,  well-ordered  haven,  while 
storms  raged  in  the  realm  beyond — men,  too,  who 
had  raised  to  the  glory  of  their  God  a  temple,  not 
indeed  fulfilling  the  original  design,  but  a  noble 
effort  and  grand  monument  of  burgher  devotion. 

Then  came  the  ragged  regiment  of  scholars,  wild 
lads  from  every  part  of  Germany  and  Switzerland, 
some  wan  and  pinched  with  hardship  and  privation, 
others  sturdy,  selfish  rogues,  evidently  well  able  to 
take  care  of  themselves.  There  were  many  rude, 
tyrannical-looking  lads  among  the  older  lads ;  and, 
though  here  and  there  a  studious,  earnest  face 
might  be  remarked,  the  prospect  of  Germany's 
future  priests  and  teachers  was  not  encouraging. 
And  what  a  searching  ordeal  was  awaiting  those 
careless  lads  when  the  voice  of  one,  as  yet  still  a 
student,  should  ring  through  Germany ! 

Contrasting  with  these  ill-kempt  pupils  marched 
the  grave  professors  and  teachers,  in  square  ecclesi- 
astical caps  and  long  gowns,  whose  colors  marked 
their  degrees  and  the  universities  that  had  con- 
ferred them — some  thin,  some  portly,  some  jocund, 
others  dreamy;  some  observing  all  the  humors 
around,  others  still  intent  on  Aristotelian  ethics ;  all 
men  of  high  fame,  with  doctor  at  the  beginning  of 


BOVE  m  THE  EAOLWB  NEST.  237 

their  names,  and  "  or  "  or  "  us  "  at  the  close  of  them. 
After  them  rode  the  magistracy,  a  burgomaster 
from  each  guild,  and  the  Herr  Provost  himself — as 
great  a  potentate  within  his  own  walls  as  the  doge 
of  Venice  or  of  Genoa,  or  perhaps  greater,  because 
less  jealously  hampered.  In  this  dignified  group 
was  Uncle  Gottfried,  by  complacent  nod  and  smile 
acknowledging  his  good  wife  and  niece,  who  indeed 
had  received  many  a  previous  glance  and  bow  from 
friends  passing  beneath.  But  Master  Sorel  was  no 
new  spectacle  in  a  civic  procession,  and  the  sight  of 
him  was  only  a  pleasant  fillip  to  the  excitement  of 
his  ladies. 

Here  was  jingling  of  spurs  and  trampling  of 
horses;  heraldic  achievements  showed  upon  the 
banners,  round  which  rode  the  mail-clad  retainers 
of  country  nobles  who  had  mustered  to  meet  their 
lords.  Then,  with  still  more  of  clank  and  tramp, 
rode  a  bright-faced  troop  of  lads,  with  feathered 
caps  and  gay  mantles.  Young  Count  Rudiger 
looked  up  with  courteous  salutation ;  and  just  be- 
hind him,  with  smihng  lips  and  upraised  faces,  were 
the  pair  whose  dark  eyes,  dark  hair,  and  slender 
forms  rendered  them  conspicuous  among  the  fair 
Teutonic  youth.  Each  cap  was  taken  off  and 
waved,  and  each  pair  of  lustrous  eyes  glanced  up 
pleasure  and  exultation  at  the  sight  of  the  lovely 
"  mutterlein."  And  she  ?  The  pageant  was  well- 
nigh  over  to  her,  save  for  heartily  agreeing  with 
Aunt  Johanna  that  there  was  not  a  young  noble  of 
them  all  to  compare  with  the  twin  barons  of  Ad- 


238  I>0  VE  m  THE  EA  OLE 'S  NEST. 

lerstein !  However,  she  knew  she  should  be  called 
to  account  if  she  did  not  look  weU  at  "  the  Eomish 
king ; "  besides,  Thekla  was  shrieking  with  delight 
at  the  sight  of  her  father,  tall  and  splendid  on  his 
mighty  black  charger,  with  a  smile  for  his  child, 
and  for  the  lady  a  bow  so  low  and  deferential  that 
it  was  evidently  remarked  by  those  at  whose  ap- 
proach every  lady  in  the  balconies  was  rising,  every 
head  in  the  street  was  bared. 

A  tall,  thin,  shriveled,  but  exceedingly  stately 
old  man  on  a  gray  horse  was  in  the  center.  Clad 
in  a  purple  velvet  mantle,  and  bowing  as  he  went, 
he  looked  truly  the  kaiser,  to  whom  stately  courtesy 
was  second  nature.  On  one  side,  in  black  and  gold, 
with  the  jewel  of  the  golden  fleece  on  his  breast,  rode 
Maximilian,  responding  gracefully  to  the  salutations 
of  the  people,  but  his  keen  gray  eye  roving  in  search 
of  the  object  of  Sir  Kasimir's  salute,  and  lighting 
on  Christina  with  such  a  rapid,  amused  glance  of 
discovery  that,  in  her  confusion  she  missed  what 
excited  Dame  Johanna's  rapturous  admiration — the 
handsome  boy  on  the  emperor's  other  side,  a  fair, 
plump  lad,  the  young  sovereign  of  the  low  countries, 
beautiful  in  feature  and  complexion,  but  lacking  the 
fire  and  the  loftiness  that  characterized  his  father's 
countenance.  The  train  was  closed  by  the  reitern 
of  the  emperor's  guard — steel-clad  mercenaries  who 
were  looked  on  with  no  friendly  eyes  by  the  few 
gazers  in  the  street  who  had  been  left  behind  in  the 
general  rush  to  keep  up  with  the  attractive  part  of 
the  show. 


DOVE  m  THE  EAGLE'S  NE81.  239 

Pageants  of  elaborate  mythological  character  im- 
peded the  imperial  progress  at  every  stage,  and  it 
was  full  two  hours  ere  the  two  youths  returned, 
heartily  weary  of  the  lengthened  ceremonial,  and 
laughing  at  having  actually  'seen  the  king  of  the 
Komans  enduring  to  be  conducted  from  shrine  to 
shrine  in  the  cathedral  by  a  large  proportion  of  its 
dignitaries.  Ebbo  was  sure  he  had  caught  an  archly 
disconsolate  wink ! 

Ebbo  had  to  dress  for  the  banquet  spread  in  the 
townhall.  Space  was  wanting  for  the  concourse  of 
guests,  and  Master  Sorel  had  decided  that  the 
younger  baron  should  not  be  included  in  the  invita- 
tion. Friedel  pardoned  him  more  easily  than  did 
Ebbo,  who  not  only  resented  any  slight  to  his 
double,  but  in  his  fits  of  shy  pride  needed  the  aid  of 
his  readier  and  brighter  other  self.  But  it  might 
not  be,  and  Sir  Kasimir  and  Master  Gottfried  alone 
accompanied  him,  hoping  that  he  would  not  look  as 
wild  as  a  hawk,  and  would  do  nothing  to  diminish 
the  favorable  impression  he  had  made  on  the  king 
of  the  Romans. 

Late,  according  to  mediaeval  hours,  was  the  re- 
turn, and  Ebbo  spoke  in  a  tone  of  elation.  "  The 
kaiser  was  most  gracious,  and  the  king  knew  me," 
he  said,  "  and  asked  for  thee,  Friedel,  saying  one 
of  us  was  naught  without  the  other.  But  thou 
wilt  go  to-morrow,  for  we  are  to  receive  knight- 
hood." 

"  Already ! "  exclaimed  Friedel,  a  bright  glow 
rushing  to  his  cheek. 


240  DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

"Yea,"  said  Ebbo.  "The  Eomishking  said  some- 
what about  waiting  to  win  our  spurs ;  but  the  kaiser 
said  I  was  in  a  position  to  take  rank  as  a  knight, 
and  I  thanked  him,  so  thou  shouldst  share  the 
honor." 

"  The  kaiser,"  said  Wildschloss,  "  is  not  the  man 
to  let  a  knight's  fee  slip  between  his  fingers.  The 
king  would  have  kept  off  their  grip,  and  reserved 
you  for  knighthood  from  his  own  sword  under  the 
banner  of  the  empire ;  but  there  is  no  help  for  it 
now,  and  you  must  make  your  vassals  send  in  their 
dues." 

"My  vassals?"  said  Ebbo;  "what  could  they 
send?" 

"  The  aid  customary  on  the  knighthood  of  the 
heir." 

"  But  there  is — there  is  nothing ! "  said  Friedel. 
"  They  can  scarce  pay  meal  and  poultry  enough  for 
our  daily  fare  ;  and  if  we  were  to  flay  them  alive, 
we  should  not  get  sixty  groschen  from  the  whole." 

"True  enough!  Knighthood  must  wait  till  we 
win  it,"  said  Ebbo,  gloomily. 

"  N'ay,  it  is  accepted,"  said  Wildschloss.  "  The 
kaiser  loves  his  iron  chest  too  well  to  let  you  go 
back.  You  must  be  ready  with  your  round  sum  to 
the  chancellor,  and  your  spur-money  and  your  fee 
to  the  heralds,  and  largess  to  the  crowd." 

"Mother,  the    dowry,"  said  Ebbo. 

"  At  your  service,  my  son,"  said  Christina,  anxious 
to  chase  the  cloud  from  his  brow. 

But  it  was  a  deep  haul,  for  the  avaricious  Fried- 


DO  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  241 

rich  lY.  made  exorbitant  charges  for  the  knight- 
ing his  young  nobles ;  and  Ebbo  soon  saw  that  the  im- 
provements at  home  must  suffer  for  the  honors  that 
would  have  been  so  much  better  won  than  bought. 

"  If  your  vassals  cannot  aid,  yet  may  not  your 
kinsman "  began  Wildschloss. 

"  JS'o !  "  interrupted  Ebbo,  lashed  up  to  hot  indig- 
nation. "  No,  sir  !  Eather  will  my  mother,  brother, 
and  I  ride  back  this  very  night  to  unfettered  liberty 
on  our  mountain,  without  obligation  to  any  living 
man." 

"  Less  hotly,  sir  baron,"  said  Master  Gottfried, 
gravely.  "  You  broke  in  on  your  noble  godfather, 
and  you  had  not  heard  me  speak.  You  and  your 
brother  are  the  old  man's  only  heirs,  nor  do  ye  in- 
cur any  obligation  that  need  fret  you  by  forestalling 
what  would  be  your  just  right.  I  will  see  my 
nephews  as  well  equipped  as  any  young  baron  of 
of  them." 

The  mother  looked  anxiously  at  Ebbo.  He  bent 
his  head  with  rising  color,  and  said,  "  Thanks,  kind 
uncle.  From  you  I  have  learned  to  look  on  good- 
ness as  fatherly." 

"  Only,"  added  Friedel,  "  if  the  baron's  station 
renders  knighthood  fitting  for  him,  surely  I  might 
remain  his  esquire." 

"  JS'ever,  Friedel ! "  cried  his  brother.  "  Without 
thee,  nothing." 

"  Well  said,  freiherr,"  said  Master  Sorel ;  "  what 
becomes  the  one  becomes  the  other.  I  would  not 
have  thee  left  out,  my  Friedel,  since  I  cannot  l^ave 
thee  the  mysteries  of  my  craft." 


242  DO  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

"To-morrow!"  said  Friedel,  gravely.  "Then 
must  the  vigil  be  kept  to-night." 

"  The  boy  thinks  these  are  the  days  of  Eoland 
and  Karl  the  Great,"  said  Wildschloss.  "  He  vrould 
fain  watch  his  arms  in  the  moonlight  in  the  Dome 
Kirk !  Alas !  no,  my  Friedel !  Knighthood  in 
these  days  smacks  more  of  bezants  than  of  deeds  of 
prowess." 

"  Unbearable  fellow !"  cried  Ebbo,  when  he  had 
latched  the  door  of  the  room  he  shared  with  his 
brother.  "First,  holding  up  my  inexperience  to 
scorn  !  As  though  the  kaiser  knew  not  better  than 
he  what  befits  me !  Then  trying  to  buy  my  silence 
and  my  mother's  gratitude  with  his  hateful  advance 
of  gold.  As  if  I  did  not  loathe  him  enough  without ! 
If  I  pay  my  homage,  and  sign  the  League  to-morrow, 
it  will  be  purely  that  he  may  not  plume  himself  on 
our  holding  our  own  by  sufferance,  in  deference  to 
him." 

"  You  will  sign  it — ^you  will  do  homage !  "  ex- 
claimed Friedel.  "  How  rejoiced  the  mother  will 
be." 

"  I  had  rather  depend  at  once — if  depend  I  must — 
on  yonder  dignified  kaiser  and  that  noble  king  than 
on  our  meddling  kinsman,"  said  Ebbo.  "  I  shall  be 
his  equal  now  !  Ay,  and  no  more  classed  with  the 
court  junkern  I  was  with  to-day.  The  dullards ! 
No  one  reasonable  thing  know  they  but  the  chase. 
One  had  been  at  Florence ;  and  when  I  asked  him 
of  the  baptistery  and  rare  Giotto  of  whom  my 
uncle  told  us,  he  asked  if  he  were  a  knight  of  the 


DO  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  243 

Medici.  All  he  knew  was  that  there  were  ortolans 
at  Ser  Lorenzo's  table  ;  and  he  and  the  rest  of  them 
talked  over  wines  as  many  and  as  hard  to  call  as 
the  roll  of  Eneas' s  comrades ;  and  when  each  one 
must  drink  to  her  he  loved  best,  and  I  said  I  loved 
none  like  my  sweet  mother,  they  gibed  me  for  a 
simple  dutiful  mountaineer.  Yea,  and  when  the 
servants  brought  a  bowl,  I  thought  it  was  a  whole- 
some draught  of  spring  water  after  all  their  hot 
wines  and  fripperies.     Pah ! " 

"  The  rose-water,  Ebbo !  l^o  wonder  they  laughed ! 
Why,  the  bowls  for  our  fingers  came  round  at  the 
banquet  here." 

"  Ah !  thou  hast  eyes  for  their  finikin  manners ! 
Yet  whstt  know  they  of  what  we  used  to  long  for  in 
polished  life!  Kot  one  but  vowed  he  abhorred 
books,  and  cursed  Dr.  Faustus  for  multiplying  them. 
I  may  not  know  the  taste  of  a  stew,  nor  the  fit  of  a 
-glove,  as  they  do,  but  I  trust  I  bear  a  less  empty 
brain.  And  the  young  jN^etherlanders  that  came 
with  the  archduke  were  worst  of  all.  They  got 
together  and  gabbled  French,  and  treated  the  Ger- 
man junkern  with  the  very  same  sauce  with  which 
they  had  served  me.  The  archduke  laughed  with 
them,  and  when  the  Provost  addressed  him,  made 
as  if  he  understood  not,  till  his  father  heard,  and 
thundered  out,  '  How  now,  Philip !  Deaf  on  thy 
German  ear  ?  I  tell  thee,  Herr  Probst,  he  knows 
his  own  tongue  as  well  as  thou  or  I,  and  thou  shalt 
hear  him  speak  as  becomes  the  son  of  an  Austrian 
hunter.'      That     Komish     king    is    a  knight     of 


244  DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE' 8  NEST. 

knights,  Friedel.  I  could  follow  him  to  the  world's 
end.  I  wonder  whether  he  will  ever  come  to  climb 
the  Eed  Ejrie." 

"  It  does  not  seem  the  world's  end  when  one  is 
there,"  said  Friedel,  with  strange  yearnings  in  his 
breast.  "  Even  the  dom  steeple  never  rose  to  its 
full  height,"  he  added,  standing  in  the  window,  and 
gazing  pensively  into  the  summer  sky.  "  Oh,  Ebbo, 
this  knighthood  has  come  very  suddenly  after  our 
many  dreams ;  and,  even  though  its  outward  tokens 
be  lowered,  it  is  still  a  holy,  awful  thing." 

l^urtured  in  mountain  solitude,  on  romance  trans- 
mitted through  the  pure  medium  of  his  mother's 
mind,  and  his  spirit  untainted  by  contact  with  the 
world,  Friedmund  von  Adlerstein  looked  on  chivalry 
with  the  temper  of  a  Percival  or  Galahad,  and 
regarded  it  with  a  sacred  awe.  Eberhard,  though 
treating  it  more  as  a  matter  of  business,  was  like 
enough  to  his  brother  to  enter  into  the  force  of  the 
vows  they  were  about  to  make  ;  and  if  the  young 
barons  of  Adlerstein  did  not  perform  the  night- 
watch  over  their  armor,  yet  they  kept  a  vigil  that 
impressed  their  own  minds  as  deeply,  and  in  early 
morn  they  went  to  confession  and  mass  ere  the  gay 
parts  of  the  city  were  astir. 

"  Sweet  niece,"  said  Master  Sorel,  as  he  saw  the 
brothers'  grave,  earnest  looks,  "  thou  hast  done  well 
by  these  youths ;  yet  I  doubt  me  at  times  whether 
they  be  not  too  much  lifted  out  of  this  veritable 
world  of  ours." 

"  Ah,  fair  uncle,  were  they  not  above  it,  how 
could  they  face  its  temptations  ? " 


DOVS  IN"  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  245 

"  True,  my  child ;  but  how  will  it  be  when  they 
find  how  lightly  others  treat  what  to  them  is  so 
solemn  ? " 

"  There  must  be  temptations  for  them,  above  all 
for  Ebbo,"  said  Christina,  "  but  still,  when  I  remem- 
ber how  my  heart  sank  when  their  grandmother 
tried  to  bring  them  up  to  love  crime  as  sport  and 
glory,  I  cannot  but  trust  that  the  good  work  will  be 
wrought  out,  and  my  dream  fulfilled,  that  they  may 
be  lights  on  earth  and  stars  in  heaven.  Even  this 
matter  of  homage,  that  seemed  so  hard  to  my  Ebbo, 
has  now  been  made  easy  to  him  by  his  vener- 
ation for  the  emperor." 

It  was  even  so.  If  the  sense  that  he  was  the  last 
veritable yV'^^  lord  of  Adlerstein  rushed  over  Ebbo, 
he  was,  on  the  other  hand,  overmastered  by  the 
kingliness  of  Friedrich  and  Maximilian,  and  was 
aware  that  this  submission,  while  depriving  him  of 
little  or  no  actual  power,  brought  him  into  relations 
with  the  civilized  world,  and  opened  to  him  paths 
of  true  honor.  So  the  ceremonies  were  gone 
through,  his  oath  of  allegiance  was  made,  investiture 
was  granted  to  him  by  the  delivery  of  a  sword,  and 
both  he  and  Friedel  were  dubbed  knights.  Then 
they  shared  another  banquet,  where,  as  away  from 
the  junkern  and  among  elder  men,  Ebbo  was  happier 
than  the  day  before.  Some  of  the  knights  seemed 
to  him  as  rude  and  ignorant  as  the  schneiderlein, 
but  no  one  talked  to  him  nor  observed  his  manners, 
and  he  could  listen  to  conversation  on  war  and 
policy  such  as  interested  him  far  more  than  the  sub- 


246  nOVB  m  THE  EAGLE' 8  NEST. 

jects  affected  by  youths  a  little  older  than  himself. 
Their  lonely  life  and  training  had  rendered  the 
minds  of  the  brothers  as  much  in  advance  of  their 
fellows  as  they  were  ^behind  them  in  knowledge  of 
the  world. 

The  crass  obtuseness  of  the  most  of  the  nobility 
made  it  a  relief  to  return  to  the  usual  habits  of  the 
Sorel  household  when  the  court  had  left  Ulra. 
Friedmund,  anxious  to  prove  that  his  new  honors 
were  not  to  alter  his  home  demeanor,  was  drawing 
on  a  block  of  wood  from  a  tinted  pen-and-ink  sketch ; 
Ebbo  was  deeply  engaged  with  a  newly-acquired 
copy  of  Yirgil ;  and  their  mother  was  embroidering 
some  draperies  for  the  long-neglected  castle  chapel, 
— all  sitting,  as  Master  Gottfried  loved  to  have 
them,  in  his  studio,  whence  he  had  a  few  moments 
before  been  called  away,  when,  as  the  door  slowly 
opened,  a  voice  was  heard  that  made  both  lads  start 
and  rise. 

"  Yea,  truly,  Herr  Guildmaster,  I  would  see  these 
masterpieces.  Ha!  What  have  you  here  for 
masterpieces?  Our  two  new  double-ganger 
knights?"  And  Maximilian  entered  in  a  simple 
riding-dress,  attended  by  Master  Gottfried,  and  by 
Sir  Kasimir  of  Adlerstein  Wildschloss. 

Christina  would  fain  have  slipped  out  unperceived, 
but  the  king  was  already  removing  his  cap  from  his 
fair  curling  locks,  and  bending  his  head  as  he  said, 
"  The  Frau  Freiherrinn  von  Adlerstein  ?  Fair  lady, 
I  greet  you  well,  and  thank  you  in  the  kaiser's 
name  and  mine  for  having  bred  up  for  us  two  true 
and  loyal  subjects." 


.     DO  VB  IN  THE  BAGLM'8  NEST.  247 

"  May  they  so  prove  themselves,  my  liege ! "  said 
Christina,  bending  low. 

"  And  not  only  loyal-hearted,"  added  Maximilian, 
smiling,  "  but  ready-brained,  which  is  less  frequent 
among  our  youth.  What  is  thy  book,  young  knight  ? 
Yirgilius  Maro  ?  Dost  thou  read  the  Latin  ? "  he 
addled,  in  that  tongue. 

"  Not  as  well  as  we  wish,  your  kingly  highness," 
readily  answered  Ebbo,  in  Latin,  "  having  learned 
solely  of  our  mother  till  we  came  hither." 

"  ^ever  fear  for  that,  my  young  blade,"  laughed 
the  king.  "  Knowst  not  that  the  wiseacres  thought 
me  too  dull  for  teaching  till  I  was  past  ten  years  ? 
And  what  is  thy  double  about  ?  Drawing  on  wood  ? 
How  now!  An  able  draughtsman,  my  young 
knight « " 

"  My  nephew  Sir  Friedmund  is  good  to  the  old 
man,"  said  Gottfried,  himself  almost  regretting  the 
lad's  avocation.  "  My  eyes  are  failing  me,  and  he  is 
aiding  me  with  the  graving  of  this  border.  He  has 
the  knack  that  no  teaching  will  impart  to  any  of 
my  present  journeymen." 

"  Born,  not  made,"  quoth  Maximilian.  "  N"ay," 
as  Friedel  colored  deeper  at  the  sense  that  Ebbo 
was  ashumed  of  him,  "  no  blushes,  my  boy ;  it  is  a 
rare  gift.  I  can  make  a  hundred  knights  any  day, 
but  the  Almighty  alone  can  make  a  genius.  It  was 
this  very  matter  of  graving  that  led  me  hither." 

For  Maximilian  had  a  passion  for  composition, 
and  chiefly  for  autobiography,  and  his  head  was 
full  of  that  curious  performance,  "Der  Weisse  Konig," 


us  ^0  YE  m  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

which  occupied  many  of  the  leisure  moments  of  his 
life,  being  dictated  to  his  former  writing-master, 
Marcus  Sauerwein.  He  had  already  designed  the 
portrayal  of  his  father  as  the  old  white  king,  and 
himself  as  the  young  white  king,  in  a  series  of  wood- 
cuts illustrating  the  narrative  which  culminated  in 
the  one  romance  of  his  life,  his  brief,  happy  mar- 
riage with  Mary  of  Burgundy ;  and  he  continued 
eagerly  to  talk  to  Master  Gottfried  about  the  mys- 
tery of  graving,  and  the  various  scenes  in  which  he 
wished  to  depict  himself  learning  languages  from 
native  speakers — Czech  from  a  peasant  with  a  bas- 
ket of  eggs,  English  from  the  exiles  at  the  Burgun- 
dian  court,  Avho  had  also  taught  him  the  use  of  the 
longbow,  building  from  architects  and  masons, 
painting  from  artists,  and,  more  imaginatively,  astrol- 
ogy from  a  wonderful  flaming  sphere  in  the  sky,  and 
the  black  art  from  a  witch  inspired  by  a  long-tailed 
demon  perched  on  her  shoulder. 

ISIo  doubt  "  the  young  white  king"  made  an  ex- 
ceedingly prominent  figure  in  the  discourse,  but  it 
w^as  so  quaint  and  so  brilliant  that  it  did  not  need 
the  charm  of  foyal  condescension  to  entrance  the 
young  knights,  who  stood  silent  auditors.  Ebbo  at 
least  was  convinced  that  no  species  of  knowledge 
or  skill  was  viewed  by  his  kaiserly  kingship  as  be- 
neath his  dignity ;  but  still  he  feared  Friedel's  being 
seized  upon  to  be  as  prime  illustrator  to  the  royal 
autobiography — a  lot  to  which,  with  all  his  devotion 
to  Maximilian,  he  could  hardly  have  consigned 
his  brother,  in  the  certainty  that  the  jeers  of  the 
ruder  nobles  would  pursue  the  craftsman  baron. 


DO  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  249 

However,  for  the  present,  Maximilian  was  keen 
enough  to  see  that  the  boy's  mechanical  skill  was 
not  as  yet  equal  to  his  genius ;  so  he  only  encouraged 
him  to  practice,  adding  that  he  heard  there  was  a 
rare  lad,  one  Diirer,  at  IS'uremburg,  whose  produc- 
tions were  already  wonderful.  "  And  what  is  this  ? " 
he  asked ;  "  what  is  the  daintily-carved  group  I  see 
yonder  ? " 

"  Your  highness  means,  '  The  Dove  in  the  Eagle's 
Nest,'  "  said  Kasimir.  "  It  is  the  work  of  my  young 
kinsmen,  and  their  appropriate  device." 

"  As  well  chosen  as  carved,"  said  Maximilian,  ex- 
amining it.  "  Well  is  it  that  a  city  dove  should 
now  and  then  find  her  way  to  the  eyrie.  Some  of 
my  nobles  would  cut  my  throat  for  the  heresy,  but 
I  am  safe  here,  eh.  Sir  Kasimir  ?  Fare  ye  well,  ye 
dove-trained  eaglets.  We  will  know  one  another 
better  when  we  bear  the  cross  against  the  infidel." 

The  brothers  kissed  his  hand,  and  he  descended 
the  steps  from  the  hall  door.  Ere  he  had  gone  far, 
he  turned  round  upon  Sir  Kasimir  with  a  merry 
smile  :  "  A  very  white  and  tender  dove  indeed,  and 
one  who  might  easily  nestle  in  another  eyrie,  me- 
thinks." 

"  Deems  your  kingly  highness  that  consent  could 
be  won  ? "  asked  Wildschloss. 

"  From  the  kaiser  ?  Pf ui,  man,  thou  knowest  as 
weU  as  I  do  the  golden  key  to  his  consent.  So  thou 
wouldst  risk  thy  luck  again !  Thou  hast  no  male 
heir." 

"  And  I  would  fain  give  my  child  a  mother  who 


250  DO  VE  m  TBE  EAQLE^B  NEST. 

would  deal  well  with  her.  Nay,  to  say  sooth,  that 
gentle,  mnocent  face  has  dwelt  with  me  for  many 
years.  But  for  my  pre-contract,  I  had  striven  long 
ago  to  win  her,  and  had  been  a  happier  man,  may- 
hap. And,  now  I  have  seen  what  she  has  made  of 
her  sons,  I  feel  I  could  scarce  find  her  match  among 
our  nobility." 

"  Nor  elsewhere,"  said  the  king ;  "  and  I  honor 
thee  for  not  being  so  besotted  in  our  German  haughti- 
ness as  not  to  see  that  it  is  our  free  cities  that  make 
refined  and  discreet  dames.  I  give  you  good  speed, 
Adlerstein ;  but,  if  I  read  aright  the  brow  of  one  at 
least  of  these  young  fellows,  thou  wilt  scarce  have  a 
willing  or  obedient  stepson.*" 


DO  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE  '8  NEST.  25 1 


CHAPTER  XV. 

THE     RIVAL     EYRIE. 

Ebbo  trusted  that  his  kinsman  of  "Wildschloss  was 
safe  gone  with  the  court,  and  his  temper  smoothed 
and  his  spirits  rose  in  proportion  while  preparations 
for  a  return  to  Adlerstein  were  being  completed — 
preparations  by  which  the  burgher  lady  might  hope 
to  render  the  castle  far  more  habitable,  not  to  say 
baronial,  than  it  had  ever  been. 

The  lady  herself  felt  thankful  that  her  Stay  at 
Ulm  had  turned  out  well  beyond  all  anticipations  in 
the  excellent  understanding  between  her  uncle  and 
her  sons,  and  still  more  in  Ebbo's  full  submission 
and  personal  loyalty  toward  the  imperial  family 
The  die  was  cast,  and  the  first  step  had  been  taken 
toward  rendering  the  Adlerstein  family  the  peace- 
ful, honorable  nobles  she  always  longed  to  see 
them. 

She  was  one  afternoon  assisting  her  aunt  in  some 
of  the  duties  of  her  wirthsehqfi,  when  Master  G  ott- 
fried  entered  the  apartment  with  an  air  of  such  ex 
treme  complacency  that  both  turned  round  amazed  ; 
the  one  exclaiming,  "  Surely  funds  have  come  in  for 
finishing  the  spire!"  the  other,  "Have  they  ap- 
pointed the  provost  for  next  year,  house- father  ? " 


j^52  DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

"  !N'either  the  one  nor  the  other,"  was  the  reply, 
"  But  heard  you  not  the  horse's  feet  ?  Here  has  the 
Lord  of  Adlerstein  Wildschloss  been  with  me  in  full 
state,  to  make  formal  proposals  for  the  hand  of  our 
child,  Christina." 

"  For  Christina  ?  "  cried  Hausf rau  Johanna  with 
delight ;  "  truly  that  is  well.  Truly  our  maiden  has 
done  honor  to  her  breeding.  A  second  nobleman 
demanding  her — and  one  who  should  be  able  richly 
to  endow  her  1 " 

*'  And  who  will  do  so,"  said  Master  Gottfried. 
"  For  morning  gift  he  promises  the  farms  and  lands 
of  Griinau — rich  both  in  forest  and  corn  glebe. 
Likewise,  her  dower  shall  be  upon  Wildschloss— 
where  the  soil  is  of  the  richest  pasture,  and  there 
are  no  less  than  three  mills,  whence  the  lord  obtains 
large  rights  of  multure.  Moreover,  the  castle  was 
added  to  and  furnished  on  his  marriage  with  the 
late  baroness,  and  might  serve  a  kurfiirst  ;  and 
though  the  jewels  of  Freiherrinn  Yaleska  must  be 
inherited  by  her  daughter,  yet  there  are  many  of 
higher  price  which  have  descended  from  his  own 
ancestresses,  and  which  will  all  be  hers." 

"  And  what  a  wedding  we  will  have  ! "  exclaimed 
J  ohanna ;  "  it  shall  be  truly  baronial.  I  will  take 
my  hood  and  go  at  once  to  neighbor  Sophie  Lems- 
berg,  who  was  wife  to  the  markgraf  s  under  keller- 
meister.  She  will  tell  me  point  device  the  cere- 
monies befitting  the  espousals  of  a  baron's  widow." 

Poor  Christina  had  sat  all  this  time  with  drooping 
bead  and  clasped  hands,  a  tear  stealing  down  as  the 


DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST,  253 

formal  terms  of  the  treaty  sent  her  spirit  back  to 
the  urgent,  pleading,  imperious  voice  that  had  said, 
"  Now,  little  one,  thou  wilt  not  shut  me  out ; "  and 
as  she  glanced  at  the  ring  that  had  lain  on  that 
broad  palm,  she  felt  as  if  her  sixteen  cheerful  years 
had  been  an  injury  to  her  husband  in  his  nameless 
bloody  grave.  But  protection  was  so  needful  in 
those  rude  ages,  and  second  marriages  so  frequent, 
that  reluctance  was  counted  as  weakness.  She  knew 
her  uncle  and  aunt  would  never  believe  that  aught 
but  compulsion  had  bound  her  to  the  rude  outlaw, 
and  her  habit  of  submission  was  so  strong  that,  only 
when  her  aunt  was  actually  rising  to  go  and  consult 
her  gossip,  she  found  breath  to  falter : 

"Hold,  dear  aunt — my  sons " 

"  N^ay,  child,  it  is  the  best  thing  thou  couldst  do 
for  them.  Wonders  hast  thou  wrought,  yet  are  they 
too  old  to  be  without  fatherly  authority.  I  speak 
not  of  Friedel ;  the  lad  is  gentle  and  pious,  though 
spirited,  but  for  the  baron.  The  very  eye  and  tem- 
per of  my  poor  brother  Hugh — thy  father,  Stine — 
are  alive  again  in  him.  Yea,  I  love  the  lad  the 
better  for  it,  while  I  fear.  He  minds  me  precisely 
of  Hugh  ere  he  was  'prenticed  to  the  weapon-smith, 
and  all  became  bitterness." 

"  Ah,  truly,"  said  Christina,  raising  her  eyes :  "  all 
would  become  bitterness  with  my  Ebbo  were  I  to 
give  a  father's  power  to  one  whom  he  would  not 
love." 

"  Then  were  he  sullen  and  unruly,  indeed  ! "  said 
the  old  burgomaster  with  displeasure ;  "  none  have 


254  DO  VE  IN  TEE  EA  QLE  '8  NEST. 

shown  him  more  kindness,  none  could  better  aid  him 
in  court  and  empire.  The  lad  has  never  had  re- 
straint enough.  I  blame  thee  not,  child,  but  he  needs 
it  sorely,  by  thine  own  showing." 

"  Alas,  uncle !  mine  be  the  blame,  but  it  is  over  late. 
My  boy  will  rule  himself  for  the  love  of  God  and  of 
his  mother,  but  he  will  brook  no  hand  over  him — 
least  of  all  now  he  is  a  knight  and  thinks  himseK  a 
man.  Uncle,  I  should  be  deprived  of  both  my  sons, 
for  Friedel's  very  soul  is  bound  up  with  his  broth- 
er's. I  pra}^  thee  enjoin  not  this  thing  on  me,"  she 
implored. 

"  Child  ! "  exclaimed  Master  Gottfried,  "  thou 
thinkst  not  that  such  a  contract  as  this  can  be  de- 
clined for  the  sake  of  a  wayward  junker !  " 

"  Stay,  house-father,  the  little  one  w^ill  doubtless 
hear  reason  and  submit,"  put  in  the  aunt.  "Her 
sons  were  goodly  and  delightsome  to  her  in  their 
upgrowth,  but  they  are  well-nigh  men.  They  will 
be  away  to  court  and  camp,  to  love  and  marriage ; 
and  how  will  it  be  with  her  then,  young  and  fair  as 
she  still  is  ?  Well  will  it  be  for  her  to  have  a  stately 
lord  of  her  own,  and  a  new  home  of  love  and  honor 
springing  round  her." 

"  True,"  continued  Sorel ;  "  and  though  she  be  too 
pious  and  wise  to  reck  greatly  of  such  trifles,  yet  it 
may  please  her  dreamy  brain  to  hear  that  Sir  Kasi- 
mir  loves  her  even  like  a  paladin,  and  the  love  of  a 
tried  man  of  six-and-f  orty  is  better  worth  than  a  mere 
kindling  of  youthful  fancy." 

"  Mine  Eberhard  loved  me ! "  murmured  Christina, 
almost  to  herself,  but  her  aunt  caught  the  word. 


DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  255 

"  And  what  was  such  love  worth  ?  To  force  thee 
into  a  stolen  match,  and  leave  thee  alone  and  un- 
owned to  the  consequences ! " 

"  Peace ! "  exclaimed  Christina,  with  crimson  cheek 
and  uplifted  head.  "  Peace !  My  own  dear  lord 
loved  me  with  true  and  generous  love !  None  but 
myself  knows  how  much.  Not  a  word  will  I  hear 
against  that  tender  heart." 

"  Yes,  peace,"  returned  Gottfried  in  a  conciliatory 
tone — "peace  to  the  brave  Sir  Eberhard.  Thine 
aunt  meant  no  ill  of  him.  He  truly  would  rejoice 
that  the  wisdom  of  his  choice  should  receive  such 
testimony,  and  that  his  sons  should  be  thus  well 
handled.  ISTay,  little  as  I  heed  such  toys,  it  will 
doubtless  please  the  lads  that  the  baron  wiU  obtain 
of  the  emperor  letters  of  nobility  for  this  house, 
which  verily  sprang  of  a  good  Walloon  family,  and 
so  their  shield  will  have  no  blank.  The  Romish 
king  promises  to  give  thee  rank  with  any  baroness, 
and  hath  fully  owned  what  a  pearl  thou  art,  mine 
own  sweet  dove !  Nay,  Sir  Kasimir  is  coming  to- 
morrow in  the  trust  to  make  the  first  betrothal  with 
Graf  von  Kaulwitz  as  a  witness,  and  I  thought  of 
asking  the  provost  on  the  other  hand." 

"  To-morrow ! "  exclaimed  Johanna ;  "  and  how  is 
she  to  be  meetly  clad  ?  Look  at  this  widow-garb ; 
and  how  is  time  to  be  found  for  procuring  other 
raiment  ?  House-father,  a  substantial  man  like  you 
should  better  understand !  The  meal  too !  I  must 
to  gossip  Sophie ! " 

"  Yerily,  dear  mother  and  father,"  said  Christina, 


256  T>0  YE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

who  had  rallied  a  little,  "  have  patience  with  me. 
I  may  not  lightly  or  suddenly  betroth  myself ;  I 
know  not  that  I  can  do  so  at  all,  assuredly  not  un- 
less my  sons  were  heartily  willing.  Have  I  your 
leave  to  retire  ? " 

"  Granted,  my  child,  for  meditation  will  show 
thee  that  this  is  too  fair  a  lot  for  any  but  thee. 
Much  had  I  longed  to  see  thee  wedded  ere  thy  sons 
outgrew  thy  care,  but  I  shunned  proposing  even  one 
of  our  worthy  guild-masters,  lest  my  young  frieherr 
should  take  offense ;  but  this  knight,  of  his  own 
blood,  true  and  wise  as  a  burgher,  and  faithful  and 
God-fearing  withal,  is  a  better  match  than  I  durst 
hope,  and  is  no  doubt  a  special  reward  from  thy 
patron  saint." 

"Let  me  entreat  one  favor  more,"  implored 
Christina.  "  Speak  of  this  to  no  one  ere  I  have  seen 
my  sons." 

She  made  her  way  to  her  own  chamber,  there  to 
weep  and  flutter.  Marriage  was  a  matter  of  such 
high  contract  between  families  that  the  parties 
themselves  had  usually  no  voice  in  the  matter,  and 
only  the  widowed  had  any  chance  of  a  personal 
choice ;  nor  was  this  always  accorded  in  the  case  of 
females,  who  remained  at  the  disposal  of  their  rela- 
tives. Good  substantial  wedded  affection  was  not 
lacking,  but  romantic  love  was  thought  an  unneces- 
sary preliminary,  and  found  a .  vent  in  extravagant 
adoration,  not  always  in  reputable  quarters.  Obedi- 
ence first  to  the  father,  then  to  the  husband,  was 
the  first  requisite  ;  love  might  shift  for  itself ;  and 


DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  257 

the  fair  widow  of  Adlerstein,  telling  her  beads  in 
sheer  perplexity,  knew  not  whether  her  strong  re- 
pugnance to  this  marriage  and  warm  sympathy 
with  her  son  Ebbo  were  not  an  act  of  rebellion. 
Yet  each  moment  did  her  husband  rise  before  her 
mind  more  vividly,  with  his  rugged  looks,  his  warm, 
tender  heart,  his  dawnings  of  comprehension,  his 
generous  forbearance  and  reverential  love — the  love 
of  her  youth — to  be  equaled  by  no  other.  The  ac- 
complished courtier  and  polished  man  of  the  world 
might  be  his  superior,  but  she  loathed  the  superior- 
ity, since  it  was  to  her  husband.  Might  not  his 
one  chosen  dove  keep  heart-whole  for  him  to  the 
last?  She  recollected  that  coarsest,  cruellest  re- 
proach of  all  that  her  mother-in-law  had  been  wont 
to  fling  at  her — that  she,  the  recent  widow,  the  new- 
made  mother  of  Eberhard's  babes,  in  her  grief, 
her  terror,  and  her  weakness  had  sought  to  capti- 
vate this  suitor  by  her  blandishments.  The  taunt 
seemed  justified,  and  her  cheeks  burned  with  abso- 
lute shame  :  "  My  husband !  my  loving  Eberhard  ! 
left  with  none  but  me  to  love  thee,  unknown  to 
thine  own  sons !  I  cannot,  I  will  not  give  my 
heart  away  from  thee !  Thy  little  bride  shall  be 
faithful  to  thee,  whatever  betide.  "When  we  meet 
beyond  the  grave  I  will  have  been  thine  only,  nor 
have  set  any  before  thy  sons.  Heaven  forgive  me 
if  I  be  undutiful  to  my  uncle ;  but  thou  must  be 
preferred  before  even  him !  Hark ! "  and  she 
started  as  if  at  Eberhard's  footstep ;  then  smiled, 
recollecting  that  Ebbo  had  his  father's  tread.    But 


X 


258  I>0  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NE8T. 

her  husband  had  been  too  much  in  awe  of  her  to 
enter  with  that  hasty,  agitated  step  and  exclama- 
tion, "  Mother,  mother,  what  insolence  is  this  ! " 

''  Hush,  Ebbo  ?  I  prayed  mine  uncle  to  let  me 
speak  to  thee." 

"  It  is  true,  then,"  said  Ebbo,  dashing  his  cap  on 
ground ;  "  I  had  soundly  beaten  that  grinning  'pren- 
tice for  telling  Heinz." 

"  Truly  the  house  rings  with  the  rumor,  mother," 
said  Friedel,  "  but  we  had  not  believed  it." 

"I  believed  Wildschloss  assured  enough  for 
aught,"  said  Ebbo,  "but  I  thought  he  knew  where 
to  begin.  Does  he  not  know  who  is  head  of  the 
house  of  Adlerstein,  since  he  must  tamper  with  a 
mechanical  craftsman,  cap  in  hand  to  any  sprig 
of  nobility !  I  would  have  soon  silenced  his  over- 
tures ! " 

"Is  it  in  sooth  as  we  heard?"  asked  Friedel, 
blushing  to  the  ears,  for  the  boy  was  shy  as  a 
maiden.  "  Mother,  we  know  what  you  would  say," 
he  added,  throwing  himself  on  his  knees  beside  her, 
his  arm  round  her  waist,  his  cheek  on  her  lap,  and 
his  eyes  raised  to  hers. 

She  bent  down  to  kiss  him.  "Thou  knewst  it, 
Friedel,  and  now  must  thou  aid  me  to  remain  thy 
father's  true  widow,  and  to  keep  Ebbo  from  being 
violent." 

Ebbo  checked  his  hasty  march  to  put  his  hand 
on  her  chair  and  kiss  her  brow.  "  Motherling,  1 
will  restrain  myself,  so  you  will  give  me  your  word 
not  to  desert  us." 


DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  259 

"  Kay,  Ebbo,"  said  Friedel,  "  the  motherling  is 
too  true  and  loving  for  us  to  bind  her." 

"Children,"  she  answered,  "hear  me  patiently. 
I  have  been  communing  with  myself,  and  deeply  do 
I  feel  that  none  other  can  I  love  save  him  who  is  to 
you  a  mere  name,  but  to  me  a  living  presence.  IS^or 
would  I  put  any  between  you  and  me.  Fear  me 
not,  Ebbo.  I  think  the  mothers  and  sons  of  this 
wider,  fuller  world  do  not  prize  one  another  as  we 
do.  But,  my  son,  this  is  no  matter  for  rage  or  in- 
gratitude. Remember  it  is  no  small  condescension 
in  a  noble  to  stoop  to  thy  citizen  mother." 

"  He  knew  what  painted  puppets  noble  ladies  are," 
growled  Ebbo. 

"  Moreover,"  continued  Christina,  "  thine  uncle  is 
highly  gratified,  and  cannot  believe  that  i  can  re- 
fuse. He  understands  not  my  love  for  thy  father, 
and  sees  many  advantages  for  us  all.  I  doubt  me  if 
he  believes  I  have  power  to  resist  his  will,  and  for 
thee,  he  would  not  count  thine  opposition  valid. 
And  the  more  angry  and  vehement  thou  art,  the 
more  will  he  deem  himself  doing  thee  a  service  by 
overruling  thee." 

"  Come  home,  mother.  Let  Heinz  lead  our  horses 
to  the  door  in  the  dawn,  and  when  we  are  back  in 
free  Adlerstein  it  will  be  plain  who  is  master." 

"  Such  a  flitting  would  scarce  prove  our  wisdom," 
said  Christina,  "  to  run  away  with  thy  mother  like  a 
lover  in  a  ballad.  I^ay,  let  me  first  deal  gently  with 
thine  uncle,  and  speak  myself  with  Sir  Kasimir,  so 
that  I  may  show  him  the  vanity  of  his  suit.     Then 


oeo  DOVE  IN  TEE  EA QLE  8  NE8T. 

will  we  back  to  Adlerstein  without  leaving  wounds 
to  requite  kindness." 

Ebbo  was  wrought  on  to  promise  not  to  attack 
the  burgomaster  on  the  subject,  but  he  was  moody 
and  silent,  and  Master  Gottfried  let  him  alone, 
considering  his  gloom  as  another  proof  of  his  need 
of  fatherly  authority,  and  as  a  peace-lover  forbear- 
ing to  provoke  his  fiery  spirit. 

But  when  Sir  Kasimir's  visit  was  imminent,  and 
Christina  had  refused  to  make  the  change  in  her 
dress  by  which  a  young  widow  was  considered  to 
lay  herself  open  to  another  courtship,  Master  Gott- 
fried called  the  twins  apart. 

"'  My  young  lords,"  he  said,  "  I  fear  me  ye  are 
vexing  your  gentle  mother  by  needless  strife  at 
what  must  take  place." 

"  Pardon  me,  good  uncle,"  said  Ebbo,  "  I  utterly 
decline  the  honor  of  Sir  Kasimir's  suit  to  my 
mother." 

Master  Gottfried  smiled.  "  Sons  are  not  wont  to 
be  the  judges  in  such  cases.  Sir  Eberhard." 

"  Perhaps  not,"  he  answered  ;  "  but  my  mother's 
will  is  to  the  nayward,  nor  shall  she  be  coerced." 

"It  is  merely  because  of  you  and  your  pride," 
said  Master  Gottfried. 

"  I  think  not  so,"  rejoined  the  calmer  Friedel;  "  my 
mother's  love  for  my  father  is  still  fresh." 

"Young  knights,"  said  Master  Gottfried,  "it 
would  scarce  become  me  to  say,  nor  you  to  hear, 
how  much  matter  of  fancy  such  love  must  have 
been  toward  one  whom    she    knew    but    a    few 


dov:B!  m  the  ba&lb's  nest,  261 

short  months,  though  her  pure  sweet  dreams, 
through  these  long  years,  have  molded  him  into  a 
hero.  Boys,  I  verily  believe  ye  love  her  truly. 
Would  it  be  well  for  her  still  to  mourn  and  cherish 
a  dream  while  yet  in  her  fresh  age,  capable  of  new 
happiness,  fuller  than  she  has  ever  enjoyed  ? " 

"  She  is  happy  with  us,"  rejoined  Ebbo. 

"  And  ye  are  good  lads  and  loving  sons,  though 
less  duteous  in  manner  than  I  could  wish.  But  look 
you,  you  may  not  ever  be  with  her,  and  when  ye  are 
absent  in  camp  or  court,  or  contracting  a  wedlock 
of  your  own,  would  you  leave  her  to  her  lonesome 
life  in  your  solitary  castle  ? " 

Friedel's  unselfishness  might  have  been  startled, 
but  Ebbo  boldly  answered,  "  All  mine  is  hers.  JSTo 
joy  to  me  but  shall  be  a  joy  to  her.  We  can  make 
her  happier  than  could  any  stranger.  Is  it  not  so, 
Friedel?" 

"  It  is,"  said  Friedel,  thoughtfully. 

"  Ah,  rash  bloods,  promising  beyond  what  ye  can 
keep.  Nature  will  be  too  strong  for  you.  Love 
your  mother  as  ye  may,  what  will  she  be  to  you 
when  a  bride  comes  in  your  way  ?  Fling  not  away 
in  wrath,  sir  baron :  it  was  so  with  your  parents 
both  before  you ;  and  what  said  the  law  of  the  good 
God  at  the  first  marriage?  How  can  you  with- 
stand the  nature  He  has  given  ? " 

"Belike  I  may  wed,"  said  Ebbo,  bluntly;  "but  if 
it  be  not  for  my  mother's  happiness,  call  me  man- 
sworn  knight." 

"Not  so,"  good-humoredly  answered   Gottfried, 


262  I>0  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

"  but  boy  sworn  paladin,  who  talks  of  he  knows  not 
what.  Speak  knightly  truth,  sir  baron,  and  own 
that  this  opposition  is  in  verity  from  distaste  to  a 
stepfather's  rule." 

"  I  own  that  I  will  not  brook  such  rule,"  said 
Ebbo;  "nor  do  I  know  what  we  have  done  to 
deserve  that  it  should  be  thrust  on  us.  You  have 
never  blamed  Friedel,  at  least ;  and  verily,  uncle, 
my  mother's  eye  will  lead  me  where  a  stranger's 
hand  shall  never  drive  me.  Did  I  even  think  she 
had  for  this  man  a  quarter  of  the  love  she  bears  to 
my  dead  father,  I  would  strive  for  endurance  ;  but 
in  good  sooth  we  found  her  in  tears,  praying  us  to 
guard  her  from  him.  I  may  be  a  boy,  bat  I  am 
man  enough  to  prevent  her  from  being  coerced." 

"  "Was  this  so,  Friedel  ? "  asked  Master  Gottfried, 
moved  more  than  by  all  that  had  gone  before. 
"  Ach,  I  thought  ye  all  wiser.  And  spake  she  not 
of  Sir  Kasunir's  offers  ?  Interest  with  the  Romish 
king  ?  Yea,  and  a  grant  of  nobility  and  arms  to 
this  house,  so  as  to  fill  the  blank  in  your  scutch- 
eon?" 

"  M3?  father  never  asked  if  she  were  noble,"  said 
Ebbo.  "  ]^or  will  I  barter  her  for  a  cantle  of  a 
shield." 

"There  spake  a  manly  spirit,"  said  his  uncle, 
delighted.  "  Her  worth  hath  taught  thee  how  little 
to  prize  these  gewgaws  !  Yet  if  you  look  to  ming- 
ling with  your  own  proud  kind,  ye  may  fall  among 
greater  slights  than  ye  can  brook.  It  may  matter 
less  to  you,  sir  baron,  but  Friedel  here,  ay   and 


DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE' 8  NE81.  263 

your  sons,  will  be  ineligible  to  the  choicest  orders  of 
knighthood,  and  the  canonries  and  chapters  that  are 
honorable  endowments." 

Friedel  looked  as  if  he  could  bear  it,  and  Eber- 
hard  said,  "  The  order  of  the  Dove  of  Adlerstein  is 
enough  for  us." 

"  Headstrong  all,  headstrong  all,"  sighed  Master 
Gottfried.  "  One  romantic  marriage  has  turned  all 
your  heads." 

The  Baron  of  Adlerstein  Wildschloss,  unprepared 
for  the  opposition  that  awaited  him,  was  riding 
down  the  street  equipped  point  device,  and  with  a 
goodly  train  of  followers,  in  brilliant  suits.  Private 
wooing  did  not  enter  into  the  honest  ideas  of  the 
burghers,  and  the  suitor  was  ushered  into  the  full 
family  assembly,  where  Christina  rose  and  came 
forward  a  few  steps  to  meet  him,  courtesying  as  low 
as  he  bowed,  as  he  said :  "  Lady,  I  have  preferred 
my  suit  to  you  through  your  honor-worthy  uncle, 
who  is  good  enough  to  stand  my  friend." 

"  You  are  over  good,  sir.  I  feel  the  honor,  but  a 
second  wedlock  may  not  be  mine." 

"  ]^ow,"  murmured  Ebbo  to  his  brother,  as  the 
knight  and  lady  seated  themselves  in  full  view, 
"  now  will  the  smooth-tongued  fellow  talk  her  out 
of  her  senses.     Alack !  that  gypsy  prophecy ! " 

Wildschloss  did  not  talk  like  a  young  wooer  ;  such 
days  were  over  for  both ;  but  he  spoke  as  a  grave 
and  honorable  man,  deeply  penetrated  with  true 
esteem  and  affection.  He  said  that  at  their  first 
meeting  he  had  been  struck  with  her  sweetness  and 


^64  Dor  Si  IN  THE  EAGLE' 8  NEST. 

discretion,  and  would  soon  after  have  endeavored 
to  release  her  from  her  durance,  but  that  he  was 
bound  by  the  contract  already  made  with  the  Traut- 
bachs,  who  were  dangerous  neighbors  to  Wild- 
schloss.  He  had  delayed  his  distasteful  marriage 
as  long  as  possible,  and  it  had  caused  him  nothing 
but  trouble  and  strife ;  his  children  would  not  live, 
and  Thekla,  the  only  survivor,  was,  as  his  sole 
heiress,  a  mark  for  the  cupidity  of  her  uncle,  the 
Count  of  Trautbach,  and  his  almost  savage  son 
Lassla ;  while  the  right  to  the  ,'Wildschloss  barony 
would  become  so  doubtful  between  her  and  Ebbo, 
as  heir  of  the  male  line,  that  strife  and  bloodshed 
would  be  well-nigh  inevitable.  These  causes  made 
it  almost  imperative  that  he  should  re-marry,  and 
his  own  strong  preference  and  regard  for  little 
Thekla  directed  his  wishes  toward  the  Freiherrinn 
von  Adlerstein.  He  backed  his  suit  with  courtly 
compliments,  as  well  as  with  representations  of  his 
child's  need  of  a  mother's  training,  and  the  twins' 
equal  want  of  fatherly  guidance,  dilating  on  the 
benefits' he  could  confer  on  them. 

Christina  felt  his  kindness,  and  had  full  trust  in 
his  intentions.  "  Ko  "  was  a  difficult  syllable  to  her, 
but  she  had  that  within  her  which  could  not  accept 
him  ;  and*  she  firmly  told  him  that  she  was  too  much 
bound  to  both  her  Eberhards.  But  there  was  no 
daunting  him,  nor  preventing  her  uncle  and  aunt 
from  encouraging  him.  He  professed  that  he  would 
wait,  and  give  her  time  to  consider ;  and  though  she 
reiterated  that  consideration  would  not  change  her 


DO  VE  IN  THE  EAOLE'B  NEST.  $65 

mind,  Master  Gottfried  came  forward  to  thank 
him  and  express  his  confidence  of  bringing  her  to 
reason. 

"  While  I,  sir,"  said  Ebbo,  with  flashing  eyes,  and 
low  but  resentful  voice,  "  beg  to  decline  the  honor 
in  the  name  of  the  elder  house  of  Adlerstein." 

He  held  himself  upright  as  a  dart,  but  was  infi- 
nitely annoyed  by  the  little  mocking  bow  and  smile 
that  he  received  in  return,  as  Sir  Kasimir,  with  his 
long  mantle,  swept  out  of  the  apartment,  attended 
by  Master  Gottfried. 

"  Burgomaster  Sorel,"  said  the  boy,  standing  in 
the  middle  of  the  floor  as  his  uncle  returned,  ''  let 
me  hear  whether  I  am  a  person  of  any  consideration 
in  this  family  or  not  ? " 

"Nephew  baron,"  quietly  replied  Master  Gott- 
fried, "  it  is  not  the  use  of  us  Germans  to  be  dictated 
to  by  youths  not  yet  arrived  at  years  of  discretion." 

"  Then,  mother,"  said  Ebbo,  "  we  leave  this  place 
to-morrow  morn."  And  at  her  nod  of  assent  the 
house-father  looked  deeply  grieved,  the  house- 
mother began  to  clamor  about  ingratitude.  "  Not 
so,"  answered  Ebbo,  fiercely.  "We  quit  the  house 
as  poor  as  we  came,  in  homespun  and  with  the  old 
mare." 

"  Peace  Ebbo ! "  said  his  mother,  rising ;  "  peace,  I 
entreat,  house-mother !  pardon,  uncle,  I  pray  thee. 
O,  why  will  not  all  who  love  me  let  me  follow  that 
which  I  believe  to  be  best ! " 

"  Child,"  said  her  uncle,  "  I  cannot  see  thee  domi- 
neered over  by  a  youth  whose  whole  conduct  shows 
bis  need  of  restraint." 


^66  DO VB  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST, 

"  ]S'or  am  I,"  said  Christina.  "  It  is  I  who  am 
utterly  averse  to  this  offer.  Mj  sons  and  I  are  one 
in  that;  and,  uncle,  if  I  pray  of  you  to  consent  to 
let  us  return  to  our  castle,  it  is  that  I  would  not  see 
the  visit  that  has  made  us  so  happy  stained  with 
strife  and  dissension !  Sure,  sure  you  cannot  be 
angered  with  my  son  for  his  love  for  me." 

"For  the  self-seeking  of  his  love,"  said  Master 
Gottfried.  "  It  is  to  gratify  his  own  pride  that  he 
first  would  prevent  thee  from  being  enriched  and 
ennobled,  and  now  would  bear  thee  away  to  the 
scant — —  Nay,  freiherr,  I  will  not  seem  to  insult 
you,  but  resentment  would  make  you  cruel  to  your 
mother." 

"  ]^ot  cruel ! "  said  Friedel  hastily.  "  My  mother 
is  willing.  And  verily,  good  uncle,  methinks  that 
we  all  were  best  at  home.  We  have  benefited  much 
and  greatly  by  our  stay ;  we  have  learned  to  love 
and  reverence  you ;  but  we  are  wild  mountaineers 
at  the  best ;  and  while  our  hearts  are  fretted  by  the 
fear  of  losing  our  sweet  mother,  we  can  scarce  be  as 
patient  or  submissive  as  if  we  had  been  bred  up  by 
a  stern  father.  We  have  ever  judged  and  acted  for 
ourselves,  and  it  is  hard  to  us  not  to  do  so  still,  when 
our  minds  are  chafed." 

"Friedel,"  said  Ebbo,  sternly,  "I  will  have  no 
pardon  asked  for  maintaining  my  mother's  cause. 
Do  not  thou  learn  to  be  smooth-tongued." 

"  O  thou  wrong-headed  boy ! "  half  groaned  Mas- 
ter Gottfried.  "  Why  did  not  all  this  fall  out  ten 
years  sooner,  when  thou  wouldst  have  been  amena- 


DOVE  m  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  267 

ble  ?  Yet,  after  all,  I  do  not  know  that  any  noble 
training  has  produced  a  more  high-minded,  loving 
youth,"  he  added,  half  relenting  as  he  looked  at  the 
gallant,  earnest  face,  full  of  defiance  indeed,  but  with 
a  certain  wistful  appealing  glance  at  "  the  mother- 
ling,"  softening  the  liquid,  lustrous  dark  eye.  "  Get 
thee  gone,  boy,  I  would  not  quarrel  with  you  ;  and 
it  may  be,  as  Friedel  says,  that  we  are  best  out  of 
one  another's  way.  You  are  used  to  lord  it,  and  I 
can  scarce  make  excuses  for  you." 

"  Then,"  said  Ebbo,  scarce  appeased,  "  I  take  home 
my  mother,  and  you,  sir,  cease  to  favor  Kasimir's 
suit." 

"  N^o,  sir  baron.  I  cease  not  to  think  that  noth- 
ing would  be  so  much  for  your  good.  It  is  because 
I  believe  that  a  return  to  your  own  old  castle  will 
best  convince  you  all  that  I  will  not  vex  your 
mother  by  further  opposing  your  departure.  When 
you  perceive  your  error  may  it  only  not  be  too  late! 
Such  a  protector  is  not  to  be  found  every  day." 

"  My  mother  shall  never  need  any  protector  save 
myself,"  said  Ebbo  ;  "  but,  sir,  she  loves  you,  and 
owes  all  to  you.  Therefore  I  will  not  be  at  strife 
with  you,  and  there  is  my  hand." 

He  said  it  as  if  he  had  been  the  emperor  recon- 
ciling himself  to  all  the  Hanse  towns  in  one.  Mas- 
ter Gottfried  could  scarce  refrain  from  shrugging 
his  shoulders,  and  Hausfrau  Johanna  was  exceed- 
ingly angry  with  the  petulant  pride  and  insolence 
of  the  young  noble ;  but,  in  effect,  all  were  too 
much  relieved  to  avoid  an  absolute  quarrel  with  the 


268  I>0  VE  IN  THE  EAQLE'8  NEST. 

fiery  lad  to  take  exception  at  minor  matters.  The 
old  burgher  was  forbearing ;  Christina,  who  knew 
how  much  her  son  must  have  swallowed  to  bring 
him  to  this  concession  for  love  of  her,  thought  him 
a  hero  worthy  of  all  sacrifices ;  and  peace-making 
Friedel,  by  his  aunt's  side,  soon  softened  even  her, 
by  some  of  the  persuasive  arguments  that  old  dames 
love  from  gracious,  graceful,  great-nephews. 

And  when,  by-and-by.  Master  Gottfried  went  out 
to  call  on  Sir  Kasimir,  and  explain  how  he  had 
thought  it  best  to  yield  to  the  hot-tempered  lad,  and 
let  the  family  learn  how  to  be  thankful  for  the 
goods  they  had  rejected,  he  found  affairs  in  a  state 
that  made  him  doubly  anxious  that  the  young  bar- 
ons should  be  safe  on  their  mountain  without  know- 
ing of  them.  The  Trautbach  family  had  heard  of 
Wildschloss'  designs,  and  they  had  set  abroad  such 
injurious  reports  respecting  the  lady  of  Adlerstein, 
that  Sir  Kasimir  was  in  the  act  of  inditing  a  cartel 
to  be  sent  by  Count  Kaulwitz,  to  demand  an  explan- 
ation— not  merely  as  the  lady's  suitor,  but  as  the 
only  Adlerstein  of  full  age.  Now,  if  Ebbo  had 
heard  of  the  rumor,  he  would  certainly  have  given 
the  lie  direct,  and  taken  the  whole  defense  on  him- 
self ;  and  it  may  be  feared  that,  just  as  his  cause 
might  have  been.  Master  Gottfried's  faith  did 
not  stretch  to  believing  that  it  would  make  his  six- 
teen-year-old arm  equal  to  the  brutal  might  of  Lassla 
of  Trautbach.  So  he  heartily  thanked  the  Baron 
of  Wildschloss,  agreed  with  him  that  the  young 
knights  were  not  as  yet  equal  to  the  maintenance  of 


DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 


the  cause,  and  went  home  again  to  watch  carefully 
that  no  report  reached  either  of  his  nephews.  Nor 
did  he  breathe  freely  till  he  had  seen  the  little  party 
ride  safe  off  in  the  early  morning,  in  much  more 
lordly  guise  than  when  they  had  entered  the  city. 

As  to  Wildschloss  and  his  nephew  of  Trautbach, 
in  spite  of  their  relationship  they  had  a  sharp  com- 
bat on  the  borders  of  their  own  estates,  in  which 
both  were  severely  wounded ;  but  Sir  Kasimir,  with 
the  misericorde  in  his  grasp,  forced  Lassla  to  retract 
whatever  he  had  said  in  dispraise  of  the  lady  of 
Adlerstein.  Wily  old  Gottfried  took  care  that  the 
tidings  should  be  sent  in  a  form  that  might  at  once 
move  Christina  with  pity  and  gratitude  toward  her 
champion,  and  convince  her  sons  that  the  adversary 
was  too  much  hurt  for  them  to  attempt  a  fresh  chax> 
lenge. 


270  J50  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE 'S  NEST. 


CHAPTEE  XYL 

THE  EAGLE  AND  THE  SNAKE. 

The  RECONCILIATION  made  Ebbo  retract  his  hasty 
resolution  of  relinquishing  all  the  beneJ&ts  resulting 
from  his  connection  with  the  Sorel  family,  and  his 
mother's  fortune  made  it  possible  to  carry  out  many 
changes  that  rendered  the  castle  and  its  inmates  far 
more  prosperous  in  appearance  than  had  ever  been 
the  case  before.  Christina  had  once  again  the  appli- 
ances of  a  wirthschqft,  such  as  she  felt  to  be  the 
suitable  and  becoming  appurtenance  of  a  right- 
minded  frau,  gentle  or  simple,  and  she  felt  so  much 
the  happier  and  more  respectable. 

A  chaplain  had  also  been  secured.  The  youths 
had  insisted  on  his  being  capable  of  assisting  their 
studies,  and  a  good  man  had  been  found  who  was 
fearfully  learned,  having  studied  at  all  possible  uni- 
versities, but  then  failing  as  a  teacher,  because  he 
was  so  dreamy  and  absent  as  to  be  incapable  of 
keeping  the  unruly  students  in  order.  Jobst  Schon 
was  his  proper  name,  but  he  was  translated  into 
Jodocus  Pulcher.  The  chapel  was  duly  adorned, 
the  hall  and  other  chambers  were  fitted  up  with 
some  degree  of  comfort;  the  castle  court  was 
cleansed,  the  cattle  sheds  removed  to  the  rear,  and 


DOVE  IN  TEE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  271 

the  serfs  were  presented  with  seed,  and  offered  pay- 
ment in  coin  if  they  would  give  their  labor  in  fenc- 
ing and  clearing  the  cornfield  and  vineyard  which 
the  barons  were  bent  on  forming  on  the  sunny 
slope  of  the  ravine.  Poverty  was  over,  thanks  to 
the  marriage  portion,  and  yet  Ebbo  looked  less 
happy  than  in  the  days  when  there  was  but  a  bare 
subsistence ;  and  he  seemed  to  miss  the  full  tide  of 
city  life  more  than  did  his  brother,  who,  though  he 
had  enjoyed  Ulm  more  heartily  at  the  time,  seemed 
to  have  returned  to  all  his  mountain  deUghts  with 
greater  zest  than  ever.  At  his  favorite  tarn,  he  rev- 
eled in  the  vast  stillness  with  the  greater  awe  for 
having  heard  the  hum  of  men,  and  his  minstrel 
dreams  had  derived  fresh  vigor  from  contact  with 
the  active  world.  But,  as  usual,  he  was  his  brother's 
chief  stay  in  the  vexations  of  a  reformer.  The  serfs 
had  much  rather  their  lord  had  turned  out  a  free- 
booter than  an  improver.  Why  should  they  sow 
new  seeds,  when  the  old  had  sufficed  their  fathers  ? 
"Work,  beyond  the  regulated  days  when  they 
scratched  up  the  soil  of  his  old  enclosure,  was  ab- 
horrent to  them.  As  to  his  offered  coin,  they 
needed  nothing  it  would  buy,  and  had  rather  bask 
in  the  sun  or  sleep  in  the  smoke.  A  vineyard  had 
never  been  heard  of  on  Adlerstein  mountain  :  it  was 
clean  contrary  to  his  forefathers'  habits;  and  all 
came  of  the  bad  drop  of  restless  burgher  blood, 
that  could  not  let  honest  folk  rest. 

Ebbo  stormed,  not  merely  with  words,  but  blows, 
became  ashamed  of  his  violence,  tried  to  atone  for 


272  J>0 VJEJ  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST, 

it  by  gifts  and  kind  words,  and  in  return  was 
sulkily  told  that  he  would  bring  more  good  to  the 
village  by  rolling  the  fiery  wheel  straight  down  hill 
at  the  wake  than  by  all  his  new-fangled  ways. 
Had  not  Koppel  and  a  few  younger  men  been 
more  open  to  influence,  his  agricultural  schemes 
could  hardly  have  begun ;  but  Friedel's  persuasions 
were  not  absolutely  without  success,  and  every  rood 
that  was  dug  was  achieved  by  his  patience  and 
perseverance. 

Next  came  home  the  Graf  von  Schlangenwald. 
He  had  of  late  inhabited  his  castle  in  Styria,  but 
in  a  fierce  quarrel  with  some  of  his  neighbors  he 
had  lost  his  eldest  son,  and  the  pacification  enforced 
by  the  king  of  the  Romans  had  so  galled  and  in- 
furiated him  that  he  had  deserted  that  part  of  the 
country  and  returned  to  Swabia  more  fierce  and 
bitter  than  ever.  Thenceforth  began  a  petty  bor- 
der warfare  such  as  had  existed  when  Christina  first 
knew  Adlerstein,  but  had  of  late  died  out.  The 
shepherd  lad  came  home  weeping  with  wrath. 
Three  mounted  KSchlangenwaldern  had  driven  off 
his  four  best  sheep,  and  beaten  himself  with  their 
halberds,  though  he  was  safe  on  Adlerstein  ground. 
Then  a  light  thrown  by  a  Schlangenwald  reiter 
consumed  all  Jobst's  pile  of  wood.  The  swine  did 
not  come  home,  and  were  found  with  spears  stick- 
ing in  them ;  the  great  broad-horned  bull  that  Ebbo 
had  brought  from  the  pastures  of  Ulm  vanished 
from  the  Alp  below  the  Gemsbock's  Pass,  and  was 
known  to  be  salted  for  winter  use  at  Schlangen- 
wald. 


DOVJS  m  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  273 

Still  Christina  tried  to  persuade  her  sons  that 
this  might  be  only  the  retainers'  violence,  and  in- 
duced Ebbo  to  write  a  letter  complaining  of  the 
outrages,  but  not  blaming  the  count,  only  begging 
that  his  followers  might  be  better  restrained.  The 
letter  was  conveyed  by  a  lay  brother — no  other 
messenger  being  safe.  Ebbo  had  protested  from 
the  first  that  it  would  be  of  no  use,  but  he  waited 
anxiously  for  the  answer. 

Thus  it  stood  when  conveyed  to  him  by  a  tenant 
of  the  Euprecht  cloister  : 

"Wot  you,  Eberhard,  Freiherr  von  Adlerstein, 
that  your  house  have  injured  me  by  thought,  word 
and  deed.  Your  great-grandfather  usurped  my 
lands  at  the  ford.  Your  grandfather  stole  my 
cattle  and  burned  my  mills.  Then,  in  the  war  he 
slew  my  brother  Johann  and  lamed  for  life  my 
cousin  Matthias.  Your  father  slew  eight  of  my 
retainers  and  spoiled  my  crops.  You  yourself  claim 
my  land  at  the  ford,  and  secure  the  spoil  which  is 
justly  mine.  Therefore  do  I  declare  war  and  feud 
against  you.  Therefore  to  you  and  all  yours,  to 
your  helpers  and  helpers'  helpers,  am  I  a  foe.  And 
thereby  shall  I  have  maintained  my  honor  against 
you  and  yours. 

Wolfgang,  Graf  von  Schlangenwald, 
HiEROM,  Graf  von  Schlangenwald — 
his  cousin." 
etc.  etc.  etc. 

And  a  long  list  of  names,  all  connected  with  Schlan- 


274  DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE' 8  NEST. 

genwald,  followed;  and  a  large  seal,  bearing  the 
snake  of  Schlan  genwald,  was  appended  thereto. 

"  The  old  miscreant ! "  burst  out  Ebbo  ;  "  it  is  a 
feud  brief." 

"A  feud  brief!"  exclaimed  Friedel;  "they  are 
no  longer  according  to  the  law." 

"  Law  ? — what  cares  he  for  law  or  mercy  either  ? 
Is  this  the  way  men  act  by  the  League  ?  Did  we 
not  swear  to  send  no  more  feud  letters,  nor  have  re- 
course to  fist-right  ? " 

"We  must  appeal  to  the  Markgraf  of  Wurtem- 
burg,"  said  Friedel. 

It  was  the  only  measure  in  their  power,  though 
Ebbo  winced  at  it ;  but  his  oaths  were  recent,  and 
his  conscience  would  not  allow  him  to  transgress 
them  by  doing  himself  justice.  Besides,  neither 
party  could  take  the  castle  of  the  other,  and  the 
only  reprisals  in  his  power  would  have  been  on  the 
defenseless  peasants  of  Schlangenwald.  He  must 
therefore  lay  the  whole  matter  before  the  markgraf, 
who  was  the  head  of  the  Swabian  League,  and 
bound  to  redress  his  wrongs.  He  made  his  arrange- 
ments without  faltering,  selecting  the  escort  who 
were  to  accompany  him,  and  insisting  on  leaving 
Friedel  to  guard  his  mother  and  the  castle.  He 
would  not  for  the  world  have  admitted  the  sugges- 
tion that  the  counsel  and  introduction  of  Adlerstein 
Wildschloss  would  have  been  exceedingly  useful  to 
him. 

Poor  Christina !  It  was  a  great  deal  too  like  that 
former  departure,  and  her  heart  was  heavy  within 


DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'8  NEST.  275 

her !  Friedel  was  equally  unhappy  at  letting  his 
brother  go  without  him,  but  it  was  quite  necessary 
that  he  and  the  few  armed  men  who  remained 
should  show  themselves  at  all  points  open  to  the 
enemy  in  the  course  of  the  day,  lest  the  freiherr's 
absence  should  be  remarked.  He  did  his  best  to 
cheer  his  mother,  by  reminding  her  that  Ebbo  was 
not  likely  to  be  taken  at  unawares  as  their  father 
had  been ;  and  he  shared  the  prayers  and  chapel 
services,  in  which  she  poured  out  her  anxiety. 

The  blue  banner  came  safe  up  the  pass 
again,  but  Ebbo  was  gloomy  and  indignant.  The 
Markgraf  of  Wurtemburg  had  been  formerly  civil  to 
the  young  freiherr  ;  but  he  had  laughed  at  the  feud 
letter  as  a  mere  old-fashioned  habit  of  Schlangen- 
wald's  that  it  was  better  not  to  notice,  and  he  evi- 
dently regarded  the  stealing  of  a  bull  or  the  misus- 
ing of  a  serf  as  far  too  petty  a  matter  for  his  atten- 
tion. It  was  as  if  a  judge  had  been  called  by  a  cry- 
ing child  to  settle  a  nursery  quarrel.  He  told  Ebbo 
that,  being  a  free  baron  of  the  empire,  he  must  keep 
his  bounds  respected  ;  he  was  free  to  take  and  hang 
any  spoiler  he  could  catch,  but  his  bulls  were  his 
own  affair ;  the  League  was  not  for  such  gear. 

And  a  knight  who  had  ridden  out  of  Stuttgard 
with  Ebbo  had  told  him  that  it  was  no  wonder  that 
this  had  been  his  reception,  for  not  only  was  Schlan- 
ganwald  an  old  intimate  of  the  markgraf,  but  Swabia 
was  claimed  as  a  fief  of  Wurtemburg,  so  that  Ebbo's 
direct  homage  to  the  emperor,  without  the  interposi- 
tion of  the  markgraf,  had  made  him  no  object  of 
favor. 


276  DO  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

"  What  could  be  done  ? "  asked  Ebbo. 

"  Fire  some  Schlangenwald  hamlet,  and  teach  him 
to  respect  yours,"  said  the  knight. 

"  The  poor  serfs  are  guiltless." 

"  Ha !  ha !  as  if  they  would  not  rob  any  of  yours. 
Give  and  take,  that's  the  way  the  empire  wags,  sir 
baron.  Send  him  a  feud  letter  in  return,  with  a 
goodly  file  of  names  at  its  foot,  and  teach  him  to 
respect  you." 

"  But  I  have  sworn  to  abstain  from  fist-right." 

"  Much  you  gain  by  so  abstaining.  If  the  League 
will  not  take  the  trouble  to  right  you,  right  your- 
self." 

"  I  shall  appeal  to  the  emperor,  and  tell  him  how 
his  League  is  administered." 

"  Young  sir,  if  the  emperor  were  to  guard  every 
cow  in  his  domains  he  would  have  enough  to  do. 
You  will  never  prosper  with  him  without  some  one 
to  back  your  cause  better  than  that  free  tongue  of 
yours.  Hast  no  sister  that  thou  couldst  give  in 
marriage  to  a  stout  baron  that  could  aid  you  with 
strong  arm  and  prudent  head  ? " 

"  I  have  only  one  twin  brother." 

"  Ah  !  the  twins  of  Adlerstein !  I  remember  me. 
Was  not  the  other  Adlerstein  seeking  an  alliance 
with  your  lady  mother  ?  Sure  no  better  aid  could 
be  found.  He  is  hand  and  glove  with  young  King 
Max." 

"That  may  never  be,"  said  Ebbo,  haughtily. 
And,  sure  that  he  should  receive  the  same  advice, 
he  decided  against  turning  aside  to  consult  his  uncle 


DO  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE 'S  NEST.  277 

at  Ulm,  and  returned  home  in  a  mood  that  rejoiced 
Heinz  and  Hatto  with  hopes  of  the  old  days,  while 
it  filled  his  mother  with  dreary  dismay  and  appre- 
hension. 

"  Schlangenwald  should  suffer  next  time  he  trans- 
gressed," said  Ebbo.  "  It  should  not  again  be  said 
that  he  himself  was  a  coward  who  appealed  to  the 
law  because  his  hand  could  not  keep  his  head." 

The  "  next  time  "  was  when  the  first  winter  cold 
was  setting  in.  A  party  of  reitern  came  to  harry 
an  out-lying  field,  where  Ulrich  had  raised  a  scanty 
crop  of  rye.  Tidings  reached  the  castle  in  such 
good  time  that  the  two  brothers,  with  Heinz,  the 
two  Ulm  grooms,  Koppel,  and  a  troop  of  serfs,  fell 
on  the  marauders  before  they  had  effected  much 
damage,  and  while  some  remained  to  trample  out 
the  fire,  the  rest  pursued  the  enemy  even  to  the 
village  of  Schlangenwald. 

"  Burn  it,  Herr  Freiherr,"  cried  Heinz,  hot  with 
victory.  "  Let  them  learn  how  to  make  havoc  of 
our  corn." 

But  a  host  of  half -naked  beings  rushed  out  shriek- 
ing about  sick  children,  bed-ridden  grandmothers, 
and  crippled  fathers,  and  falling  on  their  knees,  with 
their  hands  stretched  out  to  the  young  barons. 
Ebbo  turned  away  his  head  with  hot  tears  in  his 
eyes.     "  Friedel,  what  can  we  do  ? " 

"  JS'ot  barbarous  murder,"  said  Friedel. 

"  But  they  brand  us  for  cowards ! " 

"The  cowardice  were  in  striking  here,"  and 
Friedel  sprang  to  withhold  Koppel,  who  had  lighted 


2'J'8  I>0  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST, 

a  bundle  of  dried  fern  ready  to  thrust  into  the 
thatch. 

"  Peasants ! "  said  Ebbo,  with  the  same  impulse, 
"  I  spare  you.  You  did  not  this  wrong.  But  bear 
word  to  your  lord,  that  if  he  will  meet  me  with  lance 
and  sword,  he  will  learn  the  valor  of  Adlerstein." 

The  serfs  flung  themselves  before  him  in  trans- 
ports of  gratitude,  but  he  turned  hastily  away  and 
strode  up  the  mountain,  his  cheek  glowing  as  he  re- 
membered, too  late,  that  his  defiance  would  be 
scoffed  at,  as  a  boy's  vaunt.  By  and  by  he  arrived 
at  the  hamlet,  where  he  found  a  prisoner,  a  scowl- 
ing, abject  fellow,  already  well  beaten,  and  now 
held  by  the  two  serfs. 

"  The  halter  is  ready,  Herr  Freiherr,"  said  old 
Ulrich,  "  and  yon  rowan  stump  is  still  as  stout  as 
when  your  herr  grandsire  hung  three  lanzknechts  on 
it  in  one  day.     We  only  wait  your  bidding." 

"  Quick  then,  and  let  me  hear  no  more,"  said 
Ebbo,  about  to  descend  the  pass,  as  if  hastening  from 
the  execution  of  a  wolf  taken  in  a  gin. 

"  Has  he  seen  the  priest  ? "  asked  Friedel. 

The  peasants  looked  as  if  this  were  one  of  Sir 
Eriedel's  unaccountable  fancies.  Ebbo  paused, 
frowned,  and  muttered,  but  seeing  a  move  as  if  to 
drag  the  wretch  toward  the  stunted  bush  overhang- 
ing an  abyss,  he  shouted,  "  hold,  Ulrich !  little  Hans, 
do  thou  run  down  to  the  castle,  and  bring  Father 
Jodocus  to  do  his  office ! " 

The  serfs  were  much  disgusted.  "  It  never  was 
so  seen  before,  Herr  Freiherr,"  remonstrated  Heinz ; 
"  fang  and  hang  was  ever  the  word." 


DOVE  m  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST,  ^79 

"  What  shrift  had  my  lord's  father,  or  mine  ? " 
added  Koppel. 

"  Look  you ! "  said  Ebbo,  turning  sharply.  "  If 
Schlangenwald  be  a  godless  ruffian,  pitiless  alike  to 
soul  and  body,  is  that  a  cause  that  I  should  stain 
myself  too  ? " 

"  It  were  true  vengeance,"  growled  Koppel. 

"  And  now,"  grumbled  Ulrich,  "  will  my  lady 
hear,  and  there  will  be  feeble  pleadings  for  the  ver- 
min's life." 

Like  mutterings  ensued,  the  purport  of  which  was 
caught  by  Friedel,  and  made  him  say  to  Ebbo,  w^ho 
would  again  have  escaped  the  disagreeableness  of 
the  scene,  '''We  had  better  tarry  at  hand.  Un- 
less we  hold  the  folk  in  some  check  there  wiU  be  no 
right  execution.  They  will  torture  him  to  death  ere 
the  priest  comes." 

Ebbo  yielded,  and  began  to  pace  the  scanty  area 
of  the  flat  rock  where  the  needfire  was  wont  to 
blaze.  After  a  time  he  exclaimed  :  "  Friedel,  how 
couldst  ask  me?  Knowst  not  that  it  sickens  me  to 
see  a  mountain  cat  killed,  save  in  full  chase.  And 
thou — why,  thou  art  white  as  the  snow  crags !  " 

"Better  conquer  the  folly  than  that  he  there 
should  be  put  to  needless  pain,"  said  Friedel,  but 
with  laboring  breath  that  showed  how  terrible  was 
the  prospect  to  his  imaginative  soul,  not  inured  to 
death-scenes  like  those  of  his  fellows. 

Just  then  a  mocking  laugh  broke  forth.  "  Ha !  " 
cried  Ebbo,  looking  keenly  down,  "what  do  ye 
there  ?  Fang  and  hang  may  be  fair ;  fang  and  tor- 
ment is  base !    What  was  it,  Lieschen  ?  " 


280  I>0  tE  IN  THE  EAGLE' 8  NEST. 

"  Only,  Herr  Freiherr,  the  caitiff  craved  drink, 
and  the  fleischerinn  gave  him  a  cup  from  the  stream 
behind  the  slaughter-house,  where  we  killed  the 
swine.     Fit  for  the  like  of  him !  " 

"  By  heavens,  when  I  forbade  torture ! "  cried 
Ebbo,  leaping  from  the  rock  in  time  to  see  the  dis- 
gusting draught  held  to  the  lips  of  the  captive, 
whose  hands  were  twisted  back  and  bound  with 
cruel  tightness ;  for  the  German  boor,  once  roused 
from  his  lazy  good-nature,  was  doubly  savage  from 
stolidity. 

"  Wretches ! "  cried  Ebbo,  striking  right  and  left 
with  the  back  of  his  sword,  among  the  serfs,  and 
then  cutting  the  thong  that  was  eating  into  the 
prisoner's  flesh,  while  Fried  el  caught  up  a  wooden 
bowl,  filled  it  with  pure  water,  and  offered  it  to  the 
captive,  who  drank  deeply. 

"  JS'ow,"  said  Ebbo,  "  hast  ought  to  say  for  thy- 
self?" 

A  low  curse  against  things  in  general  was  the 
only  answer. 

"  What  brought  thee  here  ?  "  continued  Ebbo,  in 
hopes  of  extracting  some  excuse  for  pardon  ;  but  the 
prisoner  only  hung  his  head  as  one  stupefied,  brutally 
indifferent,  and  hardened  against  the  mere  trouble 
of  answering,  l^ot  another  word  could  be  extracted, 
and  Ebbo's  position  was  very  uncomfortable,  keep- 
ing guard  over  his  condemned  felon,  with  the  sulky 
peasants  herding  round,  in  fear  of  being  balked  of 
their  prey ;  and  the  reluctance  growing  on  him  every 
moment  to  taking  life  in  cold  blood.     Eight  of  life 


DO  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST,  281 

and  death  was  a  heavy  burden  to  a  youth  under 
seventeen,  unless  he  had  been  thoughtless  and  reck- 
less, and  from  this  Ebbo  had  been  prevented  by  his 
peculiar  life.     The  lion  cub  had  never  tasted  blood. 

The  situation  was  prolonged  beyond  expectation. 

Many  a  time  had  the  brothers  paced  their  plat- 
form of  rock,  the  criminal  had  fallen  into  a  dose, 
and  women  and  boys  were  murmuring  that  they 
must  call  home  their  kine  and  goats,  and  it  was  a 
shame  to  debar  them  of  the  sight  of  the  hanging, 
long  before  Hans  came  back  between  crying  and 
stammering,  to  say  that  Father  Jodocus  had  fallen 
into  so  deep  a  study  over  his  book,  that  he  only 
muttered  "  Coming,"  then  went  into  another  musing 
j&t,  whence  no  one  could  rouse  him  to  do  more  than 
say  "  Coming !     Let  him  wait." 

"  I  must  go  and  bring  him,  if  the  thing  is  to  be 
done,"  said  Friedel. 

"  And  let  it  last  all  night ! "  was  the  answer. 
"  No,  if  the  man  were  to  die,  it  should  be  at  once, 
not  by  inches.  Hark  thee,  rogue ! "  stirring  him 
with  his  foot. 

"Well,  sir,"  said  the  man,  "is  the  hanging  ready 
yet  ?  You've  been  long  enough  about  it  for  us  to 
have  twisted  the  necks  of  every  Adlerstein  of  you 
aU." 

"  Look  thee,  caitiff ! "  said  Ebbo ;  "  thou  meritest 
the  rope  as  well  as  any  wolf  on  the  mountain,  but 
we  have  kept  thee  so  long  in  suspense,  that  if  thou 
canst  say  a  word  for  thy  life,  or  pledge  thyself  to 
meddle  no  more  with  my  lands,  I'll  consider  of  thy 
doom." 


^gpi  DOVE  m  TEE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

"  You  have  had  plenty  of  time  to  consider  it," 
growled  the  fellow. 

A  murmur,  followed  by  a  wrathful  shout,  rose 
among  the  villagers.  "  Letting  off  the  villain !  No  1 
]S"o  !     Out  upon  him !     He  dares  not !  " 

"  Dare ! "  thundered  Ebbo,  with  flashing  eyes. 
"  Rascals  as  ye  are,  think  ye  to  hinder  me  from  dar- 
ing ?  Your  will  to  be  mine  ?  There,  fellow ;  away 
with  thee!  Up  to  the  Gemsbock's  Pass!  And 
whoso  would  follow  him,  let  him  do  so  at  his  peril !  " 

The  prisoner  was  prompt  to  gather  himself  up 
and  rush  like  a  hunted  animal  to  the  path,  at  the 
entrance  of  which  stood  both  twins,  with  drawn 
swords,  to  defend  the  escape.  Of  course  no  one 
ventured  to  follow ;  and  surly  discontented  murmurs 
were  the  sole  result  as  the  peasants  dispersed. 
Ebbo,  sheathing  his  sword,  and  putting  his  arm  into 
his  brother's,  said :  "  What,  Friedel,  turned  stony- 
hearted ?    Hadst  never  a  word  for  the  poor  caitiff  ? " 

"  I  knew  thou  wouldst  never  do  the  deed,"  said 
Friedel,  smiling. 

"  It  was  such  wretched  prey,"  said  Ebbo.  "  Yet 
shall  I  be  despised  for  this!  Would  that  thou 
hadst  let  me  string  him  up  shriftless,  as  any  other 
man  had  done,  and  there  would  have  been  an  end 
of  it ! " 

And  even  his  mother's  satisfaction  did  not  greatly 
comfort  Ebbo,  for  he  was  of  the  age  to  feel  more 
ashamed  of  a  solecism  than  a  crime.  Christina  per- 
ceived that  this  was  one  of  his  most  critical  periods 
of  life,  baited  as  he   was  by  the  enemy  of  his  race^ 


DO  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE' 8  NEST.  283 

and  feeling  all  the  disadvantages  which  heart  and 
conscience  gave  him  in  dealing  with  a  man  who  had 
neither,  at  a  time  when  public  opinion  was  always 
with  the  most  masterful.  The  necessity  of  arming 
Ms  retainers  and  having  fighting  men  as  a  guard 
were  additional  temptations  to  hereditary  habits  of 
violence ;  and  that  so  proud  and  fiery  a  nature  as 
his  should  never  become  involved  in  them  was 
almost  beyond  hope.  Even  present  danger  seemed 
more  around  than  ever  before.  The  estate  was 
almost  in  a  state  of  siege,  and  Christina  never  saw 
her  sons  quit  the  castle  without  thinking  of  theu' 
father's  fate,  and  passing  into  the  chapel  to  entreat 
for  their  return  unscathed  in  body  or  soul.  The 
snow,  which  she  had  so  often  hailed  as  a  friend,  was 
never  more  welcome  than  this  winter  ;  not  merely 
as  shutting  the  enemy  out,  and  her  sons  in,  but  as 
cutting  off  all  danger  of  a  visit  from  her  suitor,  who 
would  now  come  armed  with  his  late  sufferings  in 
her  behalf  ;  and,  moreover,  with  all  the  urgent  need 
of  a  wise  and  respected  head  and  protector  for  her 
sons.  Yet  the  more  evident  the  expediency  be- 
came, the  greater  grew  her  distaste. 

Still  the  lonely  life  weighed  heavily  on  Ebbo. 
Light-hearted  Friedel  was  ever  busy  and  happy, 
were  he  chasing  the  grim  winter  game — the  bear 
and  wolf — with  his  brother,  fencing  in  the  hall, 
learning  Greek  with  the  chaplain,  reading  or  sing- 
ing to  his  mother,  or  carving  graceful  angel  forms 
to  adorn  the  chapel.  Or  he  could  at  all  times  soar 
into  a  minstrel  dream  of  pure  chivalrous  semi-alle- 


284  DO  VE  IN  TEE  EAGLE' 8  NEST. 

gorical  romance,  sometimes  told  over  the  glowing 
embers  to  his  mother  and  brother.  All  that  came 
to  Friedel  was  joy,  from  battling  with  the  bear  on 
a  frozen  rock,  to  persuading  rude  little  Hans  to 
come  to  the  frau  freiherrinn  to  learn  his  Pater- 
noster. But  the  elder  twin  might  hunt,  might 
fence,  might  smile  or  kindle  at  his  brother's  lay, 
but  ever  with  a  restless  gloom  on  him,  a  doubt  of 
the  future  which  made  him  impatient  of  the  present, 
and  led  to  a  sharpness  and  hastiness  of  manner  that 
broke  forth  in  anger  at  slight  offenses. 

"  The  matron's  coif,  succeeding  the  widow's  veil," 
Friedel  heard  him  muttering  even  in  sleep,  and  more 
than  once  listened  to  it  as  Ebbo  leaned  over  the 
hattlements — as  he  looked  over  the  white  world  to 
the  gray  mist  above  the  city  of  Ulm. 

"  Thou,  who  mockest  my  forebodings  and  fancies, 
to  dwell  on  that  gypsy  augury  !  "  argued  Friedel. 
''As  thou  saidst  at  the  time,  Wildschloss'  looks 
gave  shrewd  cause  for  it." 

"  The  answer  is  in  mine  own  heart,"  answered 
Ebbo.  "  Since  our  stay  at  Ulm,  I  have  ever  felt  as 
though  the  sweet  motherling  were  less  my  own ! 
And  the  same  with  my  house  and  lands.  Eule  as  I 
will,  a  mocking  laugh  cames  back  to  me,  saying : 
*  Thou  art  but  a  boy,  sir  baron,  thou  dost  but  play 
at  lords  and  knights.'  If  I  had  hung  yon  rogue  of 
a  reiter,  I  wonder  if  I  had  felt  my  grasp  more 
real?" 

"  ^ay,"  said  Friedel,  glancing  from  the  sparkling 
white  slopes  to  the  pure  blue  above,  "  our  whole  life 


DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  285 

is  but  a  play  at  lords  and  knights,  with  the  blessea 
saints^as  witnesses  of  our  sport  in  the  tilt-yard." 

"  Were  it  merely  that,"  said  Ebbo,  impatiently, 
"  I  were  not  so  galled.  Something  hangs  over  us, 
Friedel !  I  long  t^ia*;  J^.hese  snows  would  melt,  that 
I  might  at  least  know  what  it  is  1 " 


286  DO  YE  IN  THE  EAGLE' 8  NEST. 


CHAPTEE  XYIL 

BRIDaiNG    THE    FOKD. 

The  snow  melted,  the  torrent  became  a  flood,  then 
contracted  itself,  but  was  still  a  broad  stream,  when 
one  spring  afternoon  Ebbo  showed  his  brother  some 
wains  making  for  the  ford,  adding,  "  It  cannot  be 
rightly  passable.  They  will  come  to  loss.  I  shall 
get  the  men  together  to  aid  them." 

He  blew  a  blast  on  his  horn,  and  added,  "  The 
knaves  will  be  alert  enough  if  they  hope  to  meddle 
with  honest  men's  luggage." 

"  See,"  and  Friedel  pointed  to  the  thicket  to  the 
westward  of  the  meadow  around  the  stream,  where 
the  beech  trees  were  budding,  but  not  yet  forming 
a  full  mass  of  verdure,  "  is  not  the  snake  in  the 
wood  ?    Methinks  I  spy  the  glitter  of  his  scales." 

"  By  heavens,  the  villians  are  lying  in  wait  for  the 
travelers  at  our  landing-place,"  cried  Ebbo,  and 
again  raising  the  bugle  to  his  lips,  he  sent  forth 
three  notes  well  known  as  a  call  to  arms.  Their 
echoes  came  back  from  the  rocks,  followed  instantly 
by  lusty  jodels,  and  the  brothers  rushed  into  the 
hall  to  take  down  their  light  head-pieces  and  cors- 
lets, answering  in  haste  their  mother's  startled 
questions,  by  telling  of  the   endangered  travelers, 


DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE' 8  NEST.  287 

and  the  Schlangenwald  ambush.  She  looked  white 
and  trembled,  but  said  no  word  to  hinder  them ; 
only  as  she  clasped  Friedel's  corslet,  she  entreated 
them  to  take  fuller  armor. 

"  We  must  speed  the  short  way  down  the  rock," 
said  Ebbo,  "  and  cannot  be  cumbered  with  heavy 
harness.  Sweet  motherling,  fear  not ;  but  let  a 
meal  be  spread  for  our  rescued  captives.  Ho, 
Heinz,  'tis  against  the  Schlangenwald  rascals.  Art 
too  stiff  to  go  down  the  rock  path  ? " 

"^N^o ;  nor  down  the  abyss,  could  I  strike  a  good 
stroke  against  Schlangenwald  at  the  bottom  of  it," 
quoth  Heinz. 

"  Nor  see  vermin  set  free  by  the  f reiherr,"  growled 
Koppel;  but  the  words  were  lost  in  Ebbo's  loud 
commands  to  the  men,  as  Friedel  and  Hatto  handed 
down  the  weapons  to  them. 

The  convoy  had  by  this  time  halted,  evidently  to 
try  the  ford.  A  horseman  crossed,  and  found  it 
practicable,  for  a  wagon  proceeded  to  make  the 
attempt. 

"  Now  is  our  time,"  said  Ebbo,  who  was  standing 
on  the  narrow  ledge  between  the  castle  and  the 
precipitous  path  leading  to  the  meadow.  "  One 
wagon  may  get  over,  but  the  second  or  third  will 
stick  in  the  ruts  that  it  leaves.  Now  we  will  drop 
from  our  crag,  and  if  the  snake  falls  on  them,  why, 
then  for  a  pounce  of  the  eagle." 

The  two  young  knights,  so  goodly  in  their  bright 
steel,  knelt  for  their  mother's  blessing,  and  then 
sprang  like  chamois   down  the    ivy-twined  steep, 


288  DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

followed  by  their  men,  and  were  lost  to  sight  among 
the  bushes  and  rocks.  Yet  even  while  her  frame 
quivered  with  fear,  her  heart  swelled  at  the  thought 
what  a  gulf  there  was  between  these  days  and  those 
when  she  had  hidden  her  face  in  despair,  while 
Ermentrude  watched  the  Debatable  Ford. 

She  watched  now  in  suspense,  indeed,  but  with 
exultation  instead  of  shame,  as  two  wagons  safely 
crossed;  but  the  third  stuck  fast,  and  presently 
turned  over  in  the  stream,  impelled  sideways  by  the 
eiforts  of  the  struggling  horses.  Then,  amid 
endeavors  to  disentangle  the  animals  and  succor  the 
driver,  the  travelers  were  attacked  by  a  party  of 
armed  men,  who  dashed  out  of  the  beech  wood,  and 
fell  on  the  main  body  of  the  wagons,  which  were 
waiting  on  the  bit  of  bare  shingly  soil  that  lay 
between  the  new  and  old  channels.  A  wild  melee 
was  all  that  Christina  could  see — weapons  raised, 
horses  starting,  men  rushing  from  the  river,  while 
the  clang  and  the  shout  rose  even  to  the  castle. 

Hark !  Out  rings  the  clear  call,  "  The  Eagle  to 
the  rescue ! "  There  they  speed  over  the  meadow, 
the  two  slender  forms  with  glancing  helms !  Oh, 
overrun  not  the  followers,  rush  not  into  needless 
danger!  There  is  Koppel  almost  up  with  them 
with  his  big  axe — Heinz's  broad  shoulders  near. 
Heaven  strike  with  them !  Yisit  not  their  fore- 
fathers' sin  on  those  pure  spirits.  Some  are  flying. 
Some  one  has  fallen !  O  heavens !  on  which  side  ? 
Ah!  it  is  into  the  Schlangenwald  woods  that  the 
fugitives    direct    their    flight.      Three — ^four — the 


DO  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  289 

whole  troop  pursued !  Go  not  too  far !  Kun  not 
into  needless  risk !  Your  work  is  done,  and  gal- 
lantly. Well  done,  young  knights  of  Adlerstein! 
Which  of  you  is  it  that  stands  pointing  out  safe 
standing-ground  for  the  men  that  are  raising  the 
wagon  ?  Which  of  you  is  it  who  stands  in  converse 
with  a  burgher  form  ?  Thanks  and  blessings !  the 
lads  are  safe,  and  full  knightly  hath  been  their  first 
emprise. 

A  quarter  of  an  hour  later,  a  gay  step  mounted 
the  ascent,  and  Friedel's  bright  face  laughed  from 
his  helmet :  "  There,  mother,  will  you  crown  your 
knights  ?  Could  you  see  Ebbo  bear  down  the  chief 
squire?  for  the  old  snake  was  not  there  himself. 
And  whom  do  you  think  we  rescued,  besides  a 
whole  band  of  Venetian  traders  to  whom  he  had 
joined  himself  ?  Why,  my  uncle's  friend,  the  archi- 
tect, of  whom  he  used  to  speak — Master  Moritz 
Schleiermacher." 

"  Moritz  Schleiermacher !  I  knew  him  as  a 
boy." 

"He  had  been  laying  out  a  lustgarten  for  the 
Komish  king  at  Innspruck,  and  he  is  a  stout  man  of 
his  hands,  and  attempted  defense ;  but  he  had  such  a 
shrewd  blow  before  we  came  up,  that  he  lay  like 
one  dead  ;  and  when  he  was  lifted  up,  he  gazed  at 
us  like  one  moon-struck,  and  said,  '  Are  my  eyes 
dazed,  or  are  these  the  twins  of  Adlerstein,  that  are 
as  like  as  face  to  mirror?  Lads,  lads,  your  uncle 
looked  not  to  hear  of  you  acting  in  this  sort.'  But 
soon  we  and  his  people  let  him  know  how  it  was, 
and  that  eagles  do  not  have  the  manner  of  snakes." 


290  I>0  VE  m  TEE  EAGLE'S  NEST, 

"Poor  Master  Moritz!  Is  he  mucli  hurt?  Is 
Ebbo  bringing  him  up  hither  ?  " 

"  No,  mother,  he  is  but  giddied  and  stunned,  and 
now  must  you  send  down  store  of  sausage,  sauer- 
kraut, meat,  wine,  and  beer  ;  for  the  wains  cannot 
all  cross  tiU  daylight,  and  we  must  keep  ward  all 
night  lest  the  Schlangenwalden  should  fall  on  them 
again.  Plenty  of  good  cheer,  mother,  to  make  a 
right  merry  watch." 

"  Take  heed,  Friedel  mine ;  a  merry  watch  is 
scarce  a  safe  one." 

"  Even  so,  sweet  motherling,  and  therefore  must 
Ebbo  and  I  share  it.  You  must  mete  out  your  liquor 
wisely,  you  see,  enough  for  the  credit  of  Adlerstein, 
and  enough  to  keep  out  the  marsh  fog,  yet  not 
enough  to  make  us  snore  too  soundly.  I  am  going 
to  take  my  lute ;  it  would  be  using  it  ill  not  to  let  it 
enjoy  such  a  chance  as  a  midnight  watch." 

So  away  went  the  light-hearted  boy,  and  by-and- 
by  Christina  saw  the  red  watch-fire  as  she  gazed 
from  her  turret  window.  She  would  have  been 
pleased  to  see  how,  marshaled  by  a  merchant  who 
had  crossed  the  desert  from  Egypt  to  Palestine,  the 
wagons  were  ranged  in  a  circle,  and  the  watches 
told  off,  while  the  food  and  drink  were  carefully 
portioned  out. 

Freiherr  Ebbo,  on  his  own  ground,  as  champion 
and  host,  was  far  more  at  ease  than  in  the  city,  and 
became  very  friendly  with  the  merchants  and  archi- 
tect as  they  sat  round  the  bright  fire,  conversing, 
or  at  times  challenging  the  mountain  echoes   by 


DOVE  IN  TBE  EAGLE'S  NE81.  291 

songs  to  the  sound  of  Friedel's  lute.  When  the  stars 
grew  bright,  most  lay  down  to  sleep  in  the  wagons, 
while  others  watched,  pacing  up  and  down  till  Karl's 
wagon  should  be  over  the  mountain,  and  the  vigil 
was  relieved. 

No  disturbance  took  place,  and  at  sunrise  a  hasty 
meal  was  partaken  of,  and  the  work  of  crossing  the 
river  was  set  in  hand. 

"  Pity,"  said  Moritz,  the  architect,  "  that  this  ford 
were  not  spanned  by  a  bridge,  to  the  avoiding  of 
danger  and  spoil." 

"  Who  could  build  such  a  bridge  ? "  asked  Ebbo. 

"  Yourself,  Herr  Freiherr,  in  union  with  us  burgh- 
ers of  Ulm.  It  were  well  worth  your  while  to  give 
land  and  stone,  and  ours  to  give  labor  and  skill,  pro- 
vided we  fixed  a  toll  on  the  passage,  which  would 
be  willingly  paid  to  save  peril  and  delay." 

The  brothers  caught  at  the  idea,  and  the  merchants 
agreed  that  such  a  bridge  would  be  an  inestimable 
boon  to  all  traffickers  between  Constance,  Ulm,  and 
Augsburg,  and  would  attract  many  travelers  who 
were  scared  away  by  the  evil  fame  of  the  Debatable 
Ford.  Master  Moritz  looked  at  the  stone  of  the 
mountain,  pronounced  it  excellent  material,  and 
already  sketched  the  span  of  the  arches  with  a  view 
to  winter  torrents.  As  to  the  site,  the  best  was  on 
the  firm  ground  above  the  ford  ;  but  here  only  one 
side  was  Adlerstein,  while  on  the  other  Ebbo  claimed^ 
both  banks,  and  it  was  probable  that  an  equally 
sound  foundation  could  be  obtained,  only  with  more 
cost  and  delay. 


292  DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST, 

After  this  survey,  the  travelers  took  leave  of  the 
barons,  promising  to  write  when  their  fellow-citizens 
should  have  been  sounded  as  to  the  bridge ;  and 
Ebbo  remained  in  high  spirits  with  such  brilliant 
purposes  that  he  had  quite  forgotten  his  gloomy 
forebodings.  "  Peace  instead  of  war  at  home,"  he 
said ;  "  with  the  revenue  it  will  bring,  I  will  build  a 
mill,  and  set  our  lads  to  work,  so  that  they  may  be- 
come less  dull  and  doltish  than  their  parents.  Then 
will  we  follow  the  emperor  with  a  train  that  none 
need  despise !  E'o  one  will  talk  now  of  Adlerstein 
not  being  able  to  take  care  of  himself !  " 

Letters  came  from  Ulm,  saying  that  the  guilds  of 
mercers  and  wine-merchants  were  delighted  with 
the  project,  and  invited  the  baron  of  Adlerstein  to  a 
council  at  the  Kathhaus.  Master  Sorel  begged  the 
mother  to  come  with  her  sons  to  be  his  guest ;  but 
fearing  the  neighborhood  of  Sir  Kasimir,  she  re- 
mained at  home,  with  Heinz  for  her  seneschal  while 
her  sons  rode  to  the  city.  There  Ebbo  found  that 
his  late  exploit  and  his  future  plan  had  made  him  a 
person  of  much  greater  consideration  than  on  his 
last  visit,  and  he  demeaned  himself  with  far  more 
ease  and  affability  in  consequence.  He  had  affairs 
on  his  hands  too,  and  felt  more  than  one  year  older. 

The  two  guilds  agreed  to  build  the  bridge,  and 
share  the  toll  with  the  baron  in  return  for  the 
ground  and  materials ;  but  they  preferred  the  plan 
that  placed  one  pier  on  the  Schlangenwald  bank,  and 
proposed  to  write  to  the  count  an  offer  to  include 
him  in  the  scheme,   awarding  him  a  share  of  the 


DO  VE  m  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  293 

profits  in  proportion  to  his  contribution.  However 
vexed  at  the  turn  affairs  had  taken,  Ebbo  could 
offer  no  valid  objection,  and  was  obliged  to  affix  his 
signature  to  the  letter  in  company  with  the  guild- 
masters. 
It  was  despatched  by  the  city  pursuivants : 

The  only  men  who  safe  might  ride 
Their  errands  on  the  border  side; 

and  a  meeting  was  appointed  in  the  Kathhaus  for 
the  day  of  their  expected  return.  The  higher 
burghers  sat  on  their  carved  chairs  in  the  grand  old 
hall,  the  lesser  magnates  on  benches,  and  Ebbo,  in 
an  elbow  seat  far  too  spacious  for  his  slender  pro- 
portions, met  a  glance  from  Friedel  that  told  him 
his  merry  brother  was  thinking  of  the  frog  and  the 
ox.  The  pursuivants  entered — hardy,  shrewd-look- 
ing men,  with  the  city  arms  decking  them  wherever 
there  was  room  for  them. 

"  Honor-worthy  sirs,"  they  said,  "  no  letter  did 
the  Graf  von  Schlangenwald  return." 

"  Sent  he  no  message  ? "  demanded  Moritz  Schleier- 
macher. 

"  Yea,  worthy  sir,  but  scarce  befitting  this  rever- 
end assembly."  On  being  pressed,  however,  it  was 
repeated  :  "  The  lord  count  was  pleased  to  swear  at 
what  he  termed  the  insolence  of  the  city  in  sending 
him  heralds,  '  as  if,'  said  he,  '  the  dogs,'  your  wor- 
ships, *  were  his  equals.'  Then  having  cursed  your 
worships,  he  reviled  the  crooked  writing  of  Herr 


294  I>0  VJS  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

Clerk  Diedrichson,  and  called  his  chaplain  to  read  it 
to  him.  Herr  Priest  could  scarce  read  three  lines 
for  his  foul  language  about  the  ford.  *  E"ever,'  said 
he,  '  would  he  consent  to  raising  a  bridge — a  mean 
trick/  so  said  he,  '  for  defrauding  him  of  his  rights 
to  what  the  flood  sent  him.'  " 

"But,"  asked  Ebbo,  "took  he  no  note  of  our  ex- 
planation, that  if  he  give  not  the  upper  bank,  we 
will  build  lower,  where  both  sides  are  my  own  ? " 

"  He  passed  it  not  entirely  over,"  replied  the  mes- 
senger. 

"What  said  he — the  very  words?"  demanded 
Ebbo,  with  the  paling  cheek  and  low  voice  that 
made  his  passion  often  seem  like  patience. 

"  He  said — the  Herr  Freiherr  will  pardon  me  for 
repeating  the  words — he  said,  '  Tell  the  misproud 
mongrel  of  Adlerstein  that  he  had  best  sit  firm  in 
his  own  saddle  ere  meddling  with  his  betters,  and  if 
he  touch  one  pebble  of  the  Braunwasser,  he  will 
rue  it.  And  before  your  city-folk  take  up  with  him 
or  his,  they  had  best  learn  whether  he  have  any 
right  at  all  in  the  case.' " 

"  His  right  is  plain,"  said  Master  Gottfried ;  "  full 
proofs  were  given  in,  and  his  investiture  by  the 
kaiser  forms  a  title  in  itself.  It  is.  mere  bravado, 
and  an  endeavor  to  make  mischief  between  the 
baron  and  the  city." 

"  Even  so  did  I  explain,  Herr  Guildmaster,"  said 
the  pursuivant ;  "  but,  pardon  me,  the  count  laughed 
me  to  scorn,  and  quoth  he,  'asked  the  kaiser  for 
proof  of  his  father's  death ! ' " 


DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  295 

"  Mere  mischief -making,  as  before,"  said  Master 
Gottfried,  while  his  nephews  started  with  amaze. 
"  His  father's  death  was  proved  by  an  eye-witness, 
whom  you  still  have  in  your  train,  have  you  not, 
Herr  Freiherr  ? " 

"  Yea,"  replied  Ebbo,  "  he  is  at  Adler stein  now, 
Heinrich  Bauermann,  called  the  schneiderlein,  a 
lanzknecht,  who  alone  escaped  the  slaughter,  and 
from  whom  we  have  often  heard  how  my  father 
died,  choked  in  his  own  blood,  from  a  deep  breast- 
wound,  immediately  after  he  had  sent  home  his  last 
greetings  to  my  lady  mother." 

"  Was  the  corpse  restored  ? "  asked  the  able 
Kathsherr  Ulrich. 

"  No,"  said  Ebbo.  "  Almost  all  our  retainers  had 
perished,  and  when  a  friar  was  sent  to  the  hostel 
to  bring  home  the  remains,  it  appeared  that  the 
treacherous  foe  had  borne  them  off — nay,  my  grand- 
father's head  was  sent  to  the  Diet." 

The  whole  assembly  agreed  that  the  count  could 
only  mean  to  make  the  absence  of  direct  evidence 
about  a  murder  committed  eighteen  years  ago  tell 
in  sowing  distrust  between  the  allies.  The  sugges- 
tion was  not  worth  a  thought,  and  it  was  plain  that 
no  site  would  be  available  except  the  Debatable 
Strand.  To  this,  however,  Ebbo' s  title  was  assail- 
able, both  on  account  of  his  minority  as  well  as  his 
father's  unproved  death,  and  of  the  disputed  claim 
to  the  ground.  The  rathsherr.  Master  Gottfried, 
and  others  therefore  recommended  deferring  the 
work  till  the  baron  should  be  of  age,  when,  on  again 


^96  DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NBST, 

tendering  his  allegiance,  he  might  obtain  a  distinct 
recognition  of  his  marches.  But  this  policy  did  not 
consort  with  the  quick  spirit  of  Moritz  Schleier- 
macher,  nor  with  the  convenience  of  the  mercers 
and  wine-merchants,  who  were  constant  sufferers 
by  the  want  of  a  bridge,  and  afraid  of  waiting  four 
years,  in  which  a  lad  like  the  baron  might  return  to 
the  normal  instincts  of  his  class,  or  the  Braunwasser 
might  take  back  the  land  it  had  given  ;  while  Ebbo 
himself  was  urgent,  with  all  the  defiant  fire  of 
youth,  to  begin  building  at  once  in  spite  of  all  gain- 
sayers. 

"  Strife  and  blood  will  it  cost,"  said  Master  Sorel, 
gravely. 

"  What  can  be  had  worth  the  having  save  at  cost 
of  strife  and  blood  ? "  said  Ebbo,  with  a  glance  of 
fire. 

"  Youth  speaks  of  counting  the  cost.  Little  knows 
it  what  it  saith,"  sighed  Master  Gottfried. 

"  Nay,"  returned  the  rathsherr,  "  were  it  other- 
wise, who  would  have  the  heart  for  enterprise  ? " 

So  the  young  knights  mounted,  and  had  ridden 
about  half  the  way  in  silence  when  Ebbo  exclaimed : 
"  Eriedel " — and  as  his  brother  started,  "  what  art 
musing  on  ? " 

"  What  thou  art  thinking  of,"  said  Friedel,  turn- 
ing on  him  an  eye  that  had  not  only  something  of 
the  brightness  but  of  the  penetration  of  a  sunbeam. 

"  I  do  not  think  thereon  at  all,"  said  Ebbo, 
gloomily.  "  It  is  a  figment  of  the  old  serpent  to 
hinder  us  from  snatching  his  prey  from  him," 


DOVE  in  T3E  EAGLE' 8  NEST.  29'}' 

"  ^Nevertheless,"  said  Friedel,  "  I  cannot  but  re- 
member that  the  Genoese  merchant  of  old  told  us 
of  a  German  noble  sold  by  his  foes  to  the  Moors." 

"  Folly !  That  tale  was  too  recent  to  concern  my 
father." 

"  I  did  not  think  it  did,"  said  Friedel ;  "  but  may- 
hap that  noble's  family  rest  equally  certain  of  his 
death." 

"  Pfui ! "  said  Ebbo,  hotly ;  "  hast  not  heard  fifty 
times  how  he  died  even  in  speaking,  and  how  Heinz 
crossed  his  hands  on  his  breast?  What  wouldst 
have  more  ? " 

"  Hardly  even  that,"  said  Friedel,  slightly  smil- 
ing. 

"  Tush ! "  hastily  returned  his  brother,  "  I  meant 
only  by  way  of  proof.  Would  an  honest  old  fellow 
like  Heinz  be  a  deceiver  ? " 

"  Kot  wittingly.  Yet  I  would  fain  ride  to  that 
hostel  and  make  inquiries." 

''  The  traitor  host  met  his  deserts,  and  was  broken 
on  the  wheel  for  murdering  a  peddler  a  year  ago," 
said  Ebbo.  "I  would  I  knew  where  my  father 
was  buried,  for  then  would  I  bring  his  corpse 
honorably  back ;  but  as  to  his  being  a  living 
man,  I  will  not  have  it  spoken  of  to  trouble  my 
mother." 

"  To  trouble  her  ?  "  exclaimed  Friedel. 

"  To  trouble  her,"  repeated  Ebbo.  "  Long  since 
hath  passed  the  pang  of  his  loss,  and  there  is 
reason  in  what  old  Sorel  says,  that  he  must  have 
been  a  rugged,  untaught  savage,  with  little  in  com- 


298  DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

mon  with  the  gentle  one,  and  that  tender  memory 
hath  decked  him  out  as  he  never  could  have 
been.  Nay,  Friedel,  it  is  but  sense.  What 
could  a  man  have  been  under  the  grandame's  breed- 
ing?" 

"  It  becomes  not  thee  to  say  so,"  returned  FriedeL 
"  Nay,  he  could  learn  to  love  our  mother." 

"  One  sign  of  grace,  but  doubtless  she  loved  him 
the  better  for  their  having  been  so  little  together. 
Her  heart  is  at  peace,  believing  him  in  his  grave ; 
but  let  her  imagine  hira  in  Schlangenwald's  dun- 
geon or  some  Moorish  galley,  if  thou  likest  it 
better,  and  how  will  her  mild  spirit  be  rent !  " 

"  It  might  be  so,"  said  Friedel,  thoughtfully.  "  It 
may  be  best  to  keep  this  secret  from  her  tiU  we  have 
fuller  certainty." 

"  Agreed  then,"  said  Ebbo, "  unless  the  Wildschloss 
fellow  should  again  molest  us,  when  his  answer  is 
ready." 

"  Is  this  just  toward  my  mother  ? "  said 
Friedel. 

"  Just !  What  mean'st  thou  ?  Is  it  not  our  office 
and  our  dearest  right  to  shield  our  mother  from  care? 
And  is  not  her  chief  wish  to  be  rid  of  the  Wild- 
schloss suit?" 

Nevertheless  Ebbo  was  moody  all  the  way  home 
but  when  there  he  devoted  himself  in  his  most 
eager  and  winning  way  to  his  mother,  telling  her  of 
Master  Gottfried's  woodcuts,  and  Hasf rau  Johanna's 
rheumatism,  and  of  all  the  news  of  the  country,  in 
especial  that  the  kaiser  was  at  Lintz,  very  iU  ^th  a 


DOVE  IN  THE  EAOLE'8  NEST.  299 

gangrene  in  his  leg,  said  to  have  been  caused  by  his 
habit  of  always  kicking  doors  open,  and  that  his 
doctors  thought  of  amputation,  a  horrible  idea  in  the 
fifteenth  century.  The  young  baron  was  evidently 
bent  on  proving  that  no  one  could  make  his  mother 
so  happy  as  he  could ;  and  he  was  not  far  wrong 
there. 

Friedel,  however,  could  not  rest  till  he  had  fol- 
lowed Heinz  to  the  stable,  and  speaking  over  the  back 
of  the  old  white  mare,  the  only  other  survivor  of 
the  massacre,  had  asked  him  once  more  for  the 
particulars,  a  tale  he  was  never  loth  to  tell;  but 
when  Friedel  further  demanded  whether  he  was 
certain  of  having  seen  the  death  of  his  younger 
lord,  he  replied,  as  if  hurt:  "What,  think  you  I 
would  have  quitted  him  while  life  was  yet  in 
him?" 

"JS'o,  certainly,  good  Heinz;  yet  I  would  fain 
know  by  what  tokens  thou  knewest  his  death." 

"  Ah,  Sir  Friedel ;  when  you  have  seen  a  stricken 
field  or  two,  you  will  not  ask  how  I  know  death  from 
Hfe." 

"  Is  a  swoon  so  utterly  unlike  death  ? " 

"  I  say  not  but  that  an  inexperienced  youth  might 
be  mistaken,"  said  Heinz ;  "  but  for  one  who  had 
learned  the  bloody  trade,  it  were  impossible.  Why 
ask,  sir  ? " 

"  Because,"  said  Friedel,  low  and  mysteriously — 
"  my  brother  would  not  have  my  mother  know  it, 
but — Count  Schlangenwald  demanded  whether  we 
could  prove  my  father's  death," 


300  DO  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE' 8  NEST. 

"  Prove  !  He  could  not  choose  but  die  with  three 
such  wounds,  as  the  old  ruffian  knows.  I  shall  bless 
the  day,  Sir  Friedmund,  when  I  see  you  or  your 
brother  give  back  those  strokes !  A  heavy  reckon- 
ing be  his." 

"  We  all  deem  that  he  only  meant  to  cross  our 
designs,"  said  Friedel.  "  Yet,  Heinz,  I  would  I 
knew  how  to  find  out  what  passed  when  thou 
wast  gone.  Is  there  no  servant  at  the  inn — no  re- 
tainer of  Schlangenwald  that  aught  could  be  learned 
from  \ " 

"By  St.  Gertrude,"  roughly  answered  the 
schneiderlein,  "  if  you  cannot  be  satisfied  with  the 
oath  of  a  man  like  me,  who  would  have  given  his 
life  to  save  your  father,  I  know  not  what  will  please 
you." 

Friedel,  with  his  wonted  good-nature,  set  himself 
to  pacify  the  warrior  with  assurances  of  his  trust ; 
yet  while  Ebbo  plunged  more  eagerly  into  plans  for 
the  bridge-building,  Friedel  drew  more  and  more 
into  his  old  world  of  musings ;  and  many  a  summer 
afternoon  was  spent  by  him  at  the  Ptarmigans  Mere 
in  deep  communings  with  himself,  as  one  revolving 
a  purpose. 

Christina  could  not  but  observe,  with  a  strange 
sense  of  foreboding,  that,  while  one  son  was  more 
than  ever  in  the  lonely  mountain  heights,  the  other 
was  far  more  at  the  base.  Master  Moritz  Schleier- 
macher  was  a  constant  guest  at  the  castle,  and  Ebbo 
was  much  taken  up  with  his  companionship.  He 
was  a  strong,  shrewd  man,  stiU  young,  but  with 


DOrS  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  301 

much  experience,  and  he  knew  how  to  adapt  himself 
to  intercourse  with  the  proud  nobility,  preserving 
an  independent  bearing,  while  avoiding  all  that 
haughtiness  could  take  umbrage  at ;  and  thus  he  was 
acquiring  a  greater  influence  over  Ebbo  than  was 
perceived  by  any  save  the  watchful  mother,  who 
began  to  fear  lest  her  son  was  acquiring  an  infusion 
of  wordly  wisdom  and  eagerness  for  gain  that  would 
indeed  be  a  severance  between  him  and  his  brother. 
If  she  had  known  the  real  difference  that  uncon- 
sciously kept  her  sons  apart,  her  heart  would  have 
ached  yet  more. 


302  I>0  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE  '8  NE8T. 


CHAPTEK  XYIIL 

FEIEDMUND   IN   THE   CLOUDS. 

The  stone  was  quarried  high  on  the  mountain, 
and  a  direct  road  was  made  for  bringing  it  down  to 
the  waterside.  The  castle  profited  by  the  road  in 
accessibility,  but  its  impregnability  was  so  far  less- 
ened. However,  as  Ebbo  said,  it  was  to  be  a 
friendly  harbor,  instead  of  a  robber  crag,  and  in  case 
of  need  the  communication  could  easily  be  destroyed. 
The  blocks  of  stone  were  brought  down,  and  wooden 
sheds  were  erected  for  the  workmen  in  the 
meadow. 

In  August,  however,  came  tidings,  that,  after  two 
amputations  of  his  diseased  limb,  the  Kaiser  Fried- 
rich  III.  had  died — it  was  said  from  over  free  use  of 
melons  in  the  fever  consequent  on  the  operation. 
His  death  was  not  likely  to  make  much  change  in 
the  government,  which  had  of  late  been  left  to  his 
son.  At  this  time  the  king  of  the  Komans  (for  the 
title  of  kaiser  was  conferred  only  by  coronation 
by  the  pope,  and  this  Maximilian  never  received) 
was  at  Innspruck  collecting  troops  for  the  deliver- 
ance of  Styria  and  Carinthia  from  a  horde  of  invad- 
ing Turks.  The  Markgraf  of  Wurtemburg  sent  an 
intimation  to  all  the  Swabian  League  that  the  new 


DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE' 8  NES2.  303 

sovereign  would  be  best  pleased  if  their  homage 
were  paid  to  him  in  his  camp  at  the  head  of  their 
armed  retainers. 

Here  was  the  way  of  enterprise  and  honor  open 
at  last,  and  the  young  barons  of  Adlerstein  eagerly 
prepared  for  it,  equipping  their  vassals  and  sending 
to  Ulm  to  take  three  or  four  men-at-arms  into  their 
pay,  so  as  to  make  up  twenty  lances  as  the  contin- 
gent of  Adlerstein.  It  was  decided  that  Christina 
should  spend  the  time  of  their  absence  at  Ulm, 
whither  her  sons  would  escort  her  on  their  way  to 
the  camp.  The  last  busy  day  was  over,  and  in  the 
summer  evening  Christina  was  sitting  on  the  castle 
steps  listening  to  Ebbo's  eager  talk  of  his  plans  of 
interesting  his  hero,  the  king  of  the  Eomans,  in  his 
bridge,  and  obtaining  full  recognition  of  his  claim  to 
the  Debatable  Strand,  where  the  busy  workmen 
could  be  seen  far  below. 

Presently  Ebbo,  as  usual  when  left  to  himself, 
grew  restless  for  want  of  Friedel,  and  exclaiming, 
"  The  musing  fit  is  on  him ! — he  will  stay  all  night 
at  the  tarn  if  I  fetch  him  not,"  he  set  off  in  quest  of 
him,  passing  through  the  hamlet  t6  look  for  him  in 
the  chapel  on  his  way. 

IsTot  finding  Friedel  there,  he  was,  however,  some 
way  up  toward  the  tarn,  when  he  met  his  brother 
wearing  a  beamy  yet  awestruck  look  that  he  often 
brought  from  the  mountain  height,  yet  with  a  steads 
fast  expression  of  resolute  purpose  on  his  face. 

"  Ah,  dreamer !  "  said  Ebbo,  "  I  knew  where  to 
seek  thee !    Ever  in  the  clouds  ! " 


304  BO  YE  IN  TEE  EAOLE'8  NEST. 

"  Yes,  I  have  been  to  the  tarn,"  said  Friedel, 
throwing  his  arm  round  his  brother's  neck  in  their 
boyish  fashion.  "  It  has  been  very  dear  to  me,  and 
I  longed  to  see  its  gray  depths  once  more." 

"  Once !  Yea  manifold  times  shalt  thou  see  them," 
said  Ebbo.  "  Schleiermacher  tells  me  that  these  are 
no  janiss£iries,  but  a  mere  miscreant  horde,  even 
by  whom  glory  can  scarce  be  gained,  and  no  peril 
at  all." 

"  I  know  not,"  said  Friedel,  "  but  it  is  to  me  as  if 
I  were  taking  my  leave  of  all  these  purple  hollows 
and  heaven-lighted  peaks  cleaving  the  sky.  All  the 
more,  Ebbo,  since  I  have  made  up  my  mind  to  a 
resolution." 

"  Nay,  none  of  the  old  monkish  fancies,"  cried 
Ebbo,  "  against  them  thou  art  sworn,  so  long  as  I 
am  true  knight." 

"  No,  it  is  not  the  monkish  fancy,  but  I  am  con- 
vinced that  it  is  my  duty  to  strive  to  ascertain  my 
father's  fate.  Hold,  I  say  not  that  it  is  thine.  Thou 
hast  thy  charge  here " 

"  Looking  for  a  dead  man,"  growled  Ebbo ;  "  a 
proper  quest ! " 

"Not  so,"  returned  Friedel.  "At  the  camp  it 
will  surely  be  possible  to  learn,  through  either 
Schlangenwald  or  his  men,  how  it  went  with  my 
father.  Men  say  that  his  surviving  son,  the 
Teutonic  knight,  is  of  very  different  mold.  He 
might  bring  something  to  light.  Were  it  proved 
to  be  as  the  schneiderlein  avers,  then  would  our 
conscience  be  at  rest ;  but,  if  he  were  in  Schlangen- 
wald's  dungeon " 


DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  305 

"  Folly  !    Impossible !  " 

"  Yet  men  have  pined  eighteen  years  in  dark 
vaults,"  said  Friedel ;  "  and,  when  I  think  that  so 
may  he  have  wasted  for  the  whole  of  our  lives  that 
have  been  so  free  and  joyous  on  his  own  moun- 
tain, it  irks  me  to  bound  on  the  heather  or  gaze  at 
the  stars." 

"  If  the  serpent  hath  dared,"  cried  Ebbo,  "  though 
it  is  mere  folly  to  think  of  it,  we  would  summon  the 
League  and  have  his  castle  about  his  ears  !  Not  that 
I  believe  it." 

"  Scarce  do  I,"  said  Friedel ;  "  but  there  haunts 
me  ever  more  the  description  of  the  kindly  German 
chained  between  the  decks  of  the  Corsair's  galley. 
Once  and  again  have  I  dreamed  thereof.  And, 
Ebbo,  reccoUect  the  prediction  that  so  fretted  thee. 
Might  not  yon  dark-cheeked  woman  have  had  some 
knowledge  of  the  East  and  its  captives  ? " 

Ebbo  started,  but  resumed  his  former  tone.  "  So 
thou  wouldst  begin  thine  errantry  like  Sir  Hildebert 
and  Sir  Hildebrand  in  the  *  Eose  garden '  ?  Have 
a  care.  Such  quests  end  in  mortal  conflict  between 
the  unknown  father  and  son." 

"  I  should  know  him,"  said  Friedel,  enthusiastic- 
ally, "  or,  at  least,  he  would  know  my  mother's  son 
in  me ;  and,  could  I  no  otherwise  ranson  him,  I 
would  ply  the  oar  in  his  stead." 

"  A  fine  exchange  for  my  mother  and  me." 
gloomily  laughed  Ebbo,  "  to  lose  thee  my  sublimated 
self,  for  a  rude,  savage  lord,  who  would  straightway 
undo  all  our  "work,  and  rate  and  misuse  our  sweet 
mother  for  being  more  civilize^l  than  himself." 


306  DOVE  IN  THE  EA OLE 'S  NEST, 

"  Shame,  Ebbo !  "  cried  Friedel,  "  or  art  thou  but 
in  jest  ? " 

"  So  far  in  jest  that  thou  wilt  never  go,  puissant 
Sir  Hildebert,"  returned  Ebbo,  drawing  him  closer. 
"  Thou  wilt  learn — as  I  also  trust  to  do — in  what 
nameless  hole  the  serpent  hid  his  remains.  Then 
shall  they  be  duly  coffined  and  blazoned.  All  the 
monks  in  the  cloisters  for  twenty  miles  round  shall 
sing  requiems,  and  thou  and  I  will  walk  bareheaded, 
with  candles  in  our  hands,  by  the  bier,  till  we  rest 
him  in  the  Blessed  Friedmund's  chapel ;  and  there 
Lucas  Handlein  shall  carve  his  tomb,  and  thou  shalt 
sit  for  the  likeness." 

"  So  may  it  end,"  said  Friedel,  "  but  either  I  will 
know  him  dead,  or  endeavor  somewhat  in  his  behalf. 
And  that  the  need  is  real,  as  well  as  the  purpose 
blessed,  I  have  become  the  more  certain,  for,  Ebbo, 
as  I  rose  to  descend  the  hill,  I  saw  on  the  cloud  our 
patron's  very  form — I  saw  myself  kneel  before  him 
and  receive  his  blessing." 

Ebbo  burst  out  laughing.  "  Now  know  I  that  it 
is  indeed  as  saith  Schleiermacher,"  he  said,  "  and 
that  these  phantoms  of  the  blessed  Friedmund  are 
but  shadows  cast  by  the  sun  on  the  vapors  of  the 
ravine.  See,  Friedel,  I  had  gone  to  seek  thee 
at  the  chapel,  and  meeting  Father  Norbert,  I 
bent  my  knee,  that  I  might  take  his  farewell  bless- 
ing. I  had  the  substance,  thou  the  shadow,  thou 
dreamer ! " 

Friedel  was  as  much  mortified  for  the  moment  as 
his  gentle  nature  could  be.     Then  he  resumed  his 


DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST,  307 

sweet  smile,  saying,  "  Be  it  so  ?  I  have  oft  read 
that  men  are  too  prone  to  take  visions  and  special 
providences  to  themselves,  and  now  I  have  proved 
the  truth  of  the  saying." 

"  And,"  said  Ebbo,  "  thou  seest  thy  purpose  is  as 
baseless  as  thy  vision  ? " 

"  ]^o,  Ebbo.  It  grieves  me  to  differ  from  thee, 
but  my  resolve  is  older  than  the  fancy,  and  may  not 
be  shaken  because  I  was  vain  enough  to  believe  that 
the  Blessed  Friedmund  could  stoop  to  bless  me." 

"  Ha ! "  shouted  Ebbo,  glad  to  see  an  object  on 
which  to  vent  his  secret  annoyance.  "  Who  goes 
there,  skulking  round  the  rocks  ?  Here,  rogue,  what 
art  after  here  ? " 

"  ISTo  harm,"  sullenly  replied  a  half -clad  boy. 

"  Whence  art  thou  ?  From  Schlangenwald,  to  spy 
what  more  we  can  be  robbed  of?     The  lash " 

"Hold,"  interposed  Friedel.  "Perchance  the 
poor  lad  had  no  evil  purposes.  Didst  lose  thy 
way  ? " 

"  No,  sir,  my  mother  sent  me." 

"I  thought  so,"  cried  Ebbo.  "This  comes  of 
sparing  the  nest  of  thankless  adders  ! " 

"  Nay,"  said  Friedel,  "  mayhap  it  is  because  they 
are  not  thankless  that  the  poor  fellow  is  here." 

"  Sir,"  said  the  boy,  coming  nearer,  "  I  will  tell 
you — you  I  will  tell — not  him  who  threatens. 
Mother  said  you  spared  our  huts,  and  the  lady  gave 
us  bread  when  we  came  to  the  castle  gate  in  winter, 
and  she  would  not  see  the  reiters  lay  waste  your 
folk's  doings  down  there  without  warning  you." 


308  DO  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

"  My  good  lad !  What  saidst  thou  ? "  cried  Ebbo, 
but  the  boy  seemed  dumb  before  him,  and  Friedel 
repeated  the  question  ere  he  answered  :  "  All  the 
lanzknechts  and  reiters  are  at  the  castle,  and  the 
Herr  Graf  has  taken  all  my  father's  young  sheep  for 
them,  a  plague  upon  him.  And  our  folk  are  warned 
to  be  at  the  muster  rock  to-morrow  morn,  each  with 
a  bundle  of  straw  and  a  pine  brand  ;  and  Black  Be- 
rend  heard  the  body  squire  say  the  Herr  Graf  had 
sworn  not  to  go  to  the  wars  till  every  stick  at  the 
ford  be  burned,  every  stone  drowned,  every  workman 
hung." 

Ebbo,  in  a  transport  of  indignation  and  gratitude, 
thrust  his  hand  into  his  pouch,  and  threw  the  boy  a 
handful  of  groschen,  while  Friedel  gave  warm  thanks, 
in  the  utmost  haste,  ere  both  brothers  sprang  with 
headlong  speed  down  the  wild  path,  to  take  advan- 
tage of  the  timely  intelligence. 

The  little  council  of  war  was  speedily  assembled, 
consisting  of  the  barons,  their  mother,  Master 
Moritz  Schleiermacher,  Heinz,  and  Hatto.  To  bring 
up  to  the  castle  the  workmen,  their  families,  and  the 
more  valuable  implements,  was  at  once  decided ;  and 
Christina  asked  whether  there  would  be  anything 
left  worth  defending,  and  whether  the  Schlangen- 
walden  might  not  expend  their  fury  on  the  scaffold, 
which  could  be  newly  supplied  from  the  forest,  the 
huts,  which  could  be  quickly  restored,  and  the  stones, 
which  could  hardly  be  damaged.  The  enemy  must 
proceed  to  the  camp  in  a  day  or  two,  and  the  build- 
ing would  be  less  assailable  by  their  return ;  and, 


DOVE  m  THB  EAGLE'S  NEST.  309 

besides,  it  was  scarcely  lawful  to  enter  on  a  private 
war  when  the  imperial  banner  was  in  the  field. 

"  Craving  your  pardon,  gracious  lady/'  said  the 
architect,  "  that  blame  rests  with  him  who  provokes 
the  war.  See,  lord  baron,  there  is  time  to  send  to 
Ulm,  where  the  two  guilds,  our  allies,  will  at  once 
equip  their  trained  bands  and  despatch  them.  "We 
meanwhile  will  hold  the  knaves  in  check,  and,  by 
the  time  our  burghers  come  up,  the  snake  brood 
will  have  had  such  a  lesson  as  they  will  not  soon 
forget.     Said  I  well,  Herr  Freiherr  ? " 

"  Eight  bravely,"  said  Ebbo.  "  It  consorts  not 
with  our  honor  or  rights,  with  my  pledges  to  Ulm, 
or  the  fame  of  my  house,  to  shut  ourselves  up  and 
see  the  rogues  work  their  will  scatheless.  My  own 
score  of  men,  besides  the  stouter  masons,  carpen- 
ters, and  serfs,  will  be  fully  enough  to  make  the  old 
serpent  of  the  wood  rue  the  day,  even  without  the 
aid  of  the  burghers.  Not  a  word  against  it,  dearest 
mother.  None  is  so  wise  as  thou  in  matters  of 
peace,  but  honor  is  here  concerned." 

"My  question  is,"  persevered  the  mother, 
"  whether  honor  be  not  better  served  by  obeying 
the  summons  of  the  king  against  the  infidel,  with 
the  men  thou  hast  called  together  at  his  behest  ? 
Let  the  count  do  his  worst ;  he  gives  thee  legal 
ground  of  complaint  to  lay  before  the  king  and  the 
League,  and  all  may  there  be  more  firmly  estab- 
lished." 

"  That  were  admirable  counsel,  lady,"  said 
Schleiermacher,  "  well  suited  to  the  honor-worthy 


31 0  I>0  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

guildmaster  Sorel,  and  to  our  justice-loving  city ;  but 
in  matters  of  baronial  rights  and  aggressions,  king 
and  League  are  wont  to  help  those  that  help  them- 
selves, and  those  that  are  over  nice  as  to  law  and 
justice  come  by  the  worst." 

"  Not  the  worst  in  the  long  run,"  said  Friedel. 

"Thine  unearthly  code  will  not  serve  us  here, 
Friedel  mine,"  returned  his  brother.  "  Did  I  not 
defend  the  work  I  have  begun,  I  should  be  branded 
as  a  weak  fool.  Nor  will  I  see  the  foes  of  my  house 
insult  me  without  striking  a  fair  stroke.  Hap  what 
hap,  the  Debatable  Ford  shall  be  debated !  Call  in 
the  serfs,  Hatto,  and  arm  them.  Mother,  order  a 
good  supper  for  them.  Master  Moritz,  let  us 
summon  thy  masons  and  carpenters,  and  see  who  is 
a  good  man  with  his  hands  among  them." 

Christina  saw  that  remonstrance  was  vain.  The 
days  of  peril  and  violence  were  coming  back  again  ; 
and  all  she  could  take  comfort  in  was,  that,  if  not 
wholly  right,  her  son  was  far  from  wholly  wrong, 
and  that  with  a  free  heart  she  could  pray  for  a  bless- 
ing on  him  and  on  his  arms. 


DOVE  m  TEE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  311 


CHAPTEE  XIX. 

THE   FIGHT   AT   THE    FOKD. 

By  the  early  September  sunrise  the  thicket  be- 
neath the  pass  was  sheltering  the  twenty  well  ap- 
pointed reiters  of  Adlerstein,  each  standing,  holding 
his  horse  by  the  bridle,  ready  to  mount  at  the  in- 
stant. In  their  rear  were  the  serfs  and  artisans, 
some  with  axes,  scythes,  or  plowshares,  a  few 
with  cross-bows,  and  Jobst  and  his  sons  with  the 
long  blackened  poles  used  for  stirring  their  charcoal 
fires.  In  advance  were  Master  Moritz  and  the  two 
barons,  the  former  in  a  stout  plain  steel  helmet, 
cuirass,  and  gauntlets,  a  sword,  and  those  new-fash- 
ioned weapons,  pistols ;  the  latter  in  full  knightly 
armor,  exactly  alike,  from  the  gilt-spurred  heel  to 
the  eagle-crested  helm,  and  often  moving  restlessly 
forward  to  watch  for  the  enemy,  though  taking 
care  not  to  be  betrayed  by  the  glitter  of  their  mail. 
So  long"  did  they  wait  that  there  was  even  a  doubt 
whether  it  might  not  have  been  a  false  alarm ;  the 
boy  was  vituperated,  and  it  was  proposed  to  dispatch 
a  spy  to  see  whether  anything  were  doing  at  Schlan- 
genwald. 

At  length  a  rustling  and  rushing  were  heard ;  then 
a  clank  of  armor.    Ebbo  vaulted  into  the  saddle,  and 


31^  DO  tE  tN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

gave  the  word  to  mount ;  Schleiermacher,  who  al- 
ways fought  on  foot,  stepped  up  to  him.  "  Keep 
back  your  men,  Herr  Freiherr.  Let  his  design  be 
manifest.  We  must  not  be  said  to  have  fallen  on 
him  on  his  way  to  the  muster." 

"  It  would  be  but  as  he  served  my  father,"  mut- 
tered Ebbo,  forced,  however,  to  restrain  himself, 
though  with  boiling  blood,  as  the  tramp  of  horses 
shook  the  ground,  and  bright  armor  became  visible 
on  the  further  side  of  the  stream. 

For  the  first  time,  the  brothers  beheld  the  foe  of 
their  line.  He  was  seated  on  a  clumsy  black  horse, 
and  sheathed  in  full  armor,  and  was  apparently  a 
large  heavy  man,  whose  powerful  proportions  were 
becoming  unwieldy  as  he  advanced  in  life.  The 
dragon  on  his  crest  and  shield  would  have  made 
him  known  to  the  twins,  even  without  the  deadly 
curse  that  passed  the  Schneiderlein's  lips  at  the 
sight.  As  the  armed  troop,  out-numbering  the  Ad- 
lersteiners  by  about  a  dozen,  and  followed  by  a 
rabble  with  straw  and  pine  brands,  came  forth  on 
the  meadow,  the  count  halted  and  appeared  to  be 
giving  orders. 

"  The  ruffian  1    He  is  calling  them  on !    Now " 

began  Ebbo.  • 

^'  Nay,  there  is  no  sign  yet  that  he  is  not  peace- 
fully on  his  journey  to  the  camp,"  responded  Moritz; 
and,  chafing  with  impatient  fury,  the  knight  waited 
while  Schlangenwald  rode  toward  the  old  channel 
of  the  Braunwasser,  and  there  drawing  his  rein, 
and  sitting  like  a  statue  in  his  stirrups,  he  could 


DO  YE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  313 

hear  him  shout :  "  The  lazy  dogs  are  not  astir  yet. 
We  will  give  them  a  reveille.  Forward  with  yom* 
brands ! " 

"  Now ! "  and  Ebbo's  cream-colored  horse  leaped 
forth  as  the  whole  band  flashed  into  the  sunshine 
from  the  greenwood  covert. 

"Who  troubles  the  workmen  on  my  land?" 
shouted  Ebbo. 

"  Who  you  may  be  I  care  not,"  replied  the  count, 
"  but  when  I  find  strangers  unlicensed  on  my  lands, 
I  burn  down  their  huts.     On,  fellows ! " 

"  Back,  fellows ! "  called  Ebbo.  "  Whoso  touches 
a  stick  on  Adlerstein  ground  shall  suffer." 

"  So !  "  said  the  count,  "  this  is  the  burgher-bred, 
burgher-fed  varlet  that  calls  himself  of  Adlerstein  ! 
Boy,  thou  had  best  be  warned.  Wert  thou  true- 
blooded,  it  were  worth  my  while  to  maintain  my 
rights  against  thee.  Craven  as  thou  art,  not  even 
with  spirit  to  accept  my  feud,  I  would  fain  not  have 
the  trouble  of  sweeping  thee  from  my  path." 

"  Herr  Graf,  as  true  freiherr  and  belted  knight,  I 
defy  thee !  I  proclaim  my  right  to  this  ground, 
and  whoso  damages  those  I  place  there  must  do 
battle  with  me." 

"  Thou  wilt  have  it  then,"  said  the  count,  taking 
his  heavy  lance  from  his  squire,  closing  his  visor, 
and  wheeling  back  his  horse,  so  as  to  give  space  for 
his  career. 

Ebbo  did  the  like,  while  Friedel  on  one  side,  and 
Hierom  von  Schlangenwald  on  the  other,  kept  their 
men  in  array,  awaiting  the  issue  of  the  strife  be- 


Sli  DO  VE  IN  THE  EA  QLE  'S  NEST. 

tween  their  leaders — the  fire  of  seventeen  against 
the  force  of  fifty-six. 

They  closed  in  full  shock,  with  shivered  lances 
and  rearing,  pawing  horses,  but  without  damage 
to  either.  Each  drew  his  sword,  and  they  were 
pressing  together  when  Heinz,  seeing  a  Schlangen- 
walder  aiming  with  his  cross-bow,  rode  at  him 
furiously,  and  the  melee  became  general;  shots 
were  fired,  not  only  from  cross-bows,  but  from  arque- 
buses, and  in  the  throng  Friedel  lost  sight  of  the 
main  combat  between  his  brother  and  the  count. 

Suddenly,  however,  there  was  a  crash,  as  of  fall- 
ing men  and  horses,  with  a  shout  of  victory 
strangely  mingled  with  a  cry  of  agony,  and  both 
sides  became  aware  that  their  leaders  had  fallen. 
Each  party  rushed  to  its  fallen  head.  Friedel  be- 
held Ebbo  under  his  struggling  horse,  and  an  enemy 
dashing  at  his  throat,  and,  flying  to  the  rescue,  he 
rode  down  the  assailant,  striking  him  with  his 
sword ;  and,  with  the  instinct  of  driving  the  foe  as 
far  as  possible  from  his  brother,  he  struck  with  a 
sort  of  frenzy,  shouting  fiercely  to  his  men,  and 
leaping  over  the  dry  bed  of  the  river,  rushing  on- 
ward with  an  intoxication  of  ardor  that  would  have 
seemed  foreign  to  his  gentle  nature  but  for  the  im- 
petuous desire  to  protect  his  brother.  Their  leaders 
down,  the  enemy  had  no  one  to  rally  them,  and,  in 
spite  of  their  superiority  in  number,  gave  way  in 
confusion  before  the  furious  onset  of  Adlerstein. 
So  soon,  however,  as  Friedel  perceived  that  he  had 
forced  the  enemy  far  back  from  the  scene  of  con- 


DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST,  315 

flict,  his  anxiety  for  his  brother  returned,  and,  leav- 
ing the  retainers  to  continue  the  pursuit,  he  turned 
his  horse.  There,  on  the  green  meadow,  lay  on  the 
one  hand  Ebbo's  cream -colored  charger,  with  his 
master  under  him,  on  the  other  the  large  figure  of 
the  count ;  and  several  other  prostrate  forms  like- 
wise struggled  on  the  sand  and  pebbles  of  the 
strand,  or  on  the  turf. 

"  Ay,"  said  the  architect,  who  had  turned  with 
Friedel,  " '  twas  a  gallant  feat.  Sir  Friedel,  and  I 
trust  there  is  no  great  harm  done.  Were  it  the 
mere  dint  of  the  count's  sword,  your  brother  will  be 
little  the  worse." 

"Ebbo!  Ebbo  mine,  look  up!"  cried  Friedel, 
leaping  from  his  horse,  and  unclasping  his  brother's 
helmet. 

"  Friedel ! "  groaned  a  half-suffocated  voice.  "  O, 
take  away  the  horse  !  " 

One  or  two  of  the  artisans  were  at  hand,  and 
with  their  help  the  dying  steed  was  disengaged 
from  the  rider,  who  could  not  restrain  his  moans, 
though  Friedel  held  him  in  his  arms,  and  endeav- 
ored to  move  him  as  gently  as  possible.  It  was 
then  seen  that  the  deep  gash  from  the  count's 
sword  in  the  chest  was  not  the  most  serious  injury, 
but  that  an  arquebus  ball  had  pierced  his  thigh  be- 
fore burying  itself  in  the  body  of  his  horse;  and 
that  the  limb  had  been  further  crushed  and 
wrenched  by  the  animal's  struggles.  He  was 
nearly  unconscious,  and  gasped  with  anguish,  but, 
after  Moritz  had  bathed  his  face  and  moistened  his 


316  DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

lips,  as  he  lay  in  his  brother's  arms  he  looked  up 
with  clearer  eyes,  and  said :  "  Have  I  slain  him  ? 
It  was  the  shot,  not  he,  that  sent  me  down.  Lives 
he  ?     See — thou,  Friedel — thou.     Make  him  yield." 

Transferring  Ebbo  to  the  arms  of  Schleiermacher, 
Friedel  obeyed,  and  stepj)ed  toward  the  fallen  foe. 
The  wrongs  of  Adlerstein  were  indeed  avenged, 
for  the  blood  was  welHng  fast  from  a  deep  thrust 
above  the  collar-bone,  and  the  failing,  feeble  hand 
was  wandering  uncertainly  among  the  clasps  of  the 
gorget. 

"  Let  me  aid,"  said  Friedel,  kneeHng  down,  and  in 
his  pity  for  the  dying  man  omitting  the  summons  to 
yield,  he  threw  back  the  helmet,  and  beheld  a 
grizzled  head  and  stern  hard  features,  so  embrowned 
by  weather  and  inflamed  by  intemperance,  that 
even  approaching  death  failed  to  blanch  them.  A 
scowl  of  malignant  hate  was  in  the  eyes,  and  there 
was  a  thrill  of  angry  wonder  as  they  fell  on  the  lad's 
face.  "  Thou  again — thou  whelp  !  I  thought  at 
least  I  had  made  an  end  of  thee,"  he  muttered,  un- 
heard by  Friedel,  who,  intent  on  the  thought  that 
had  recurred  to  him  with  greater  vividness  than 
ever,  was  again  filling  Efcbo's  helmet  with  water. 
He  refreshed  the  dying  man's  face  with  it,  held  it  to 
his  lips,  and  said :  "  Herr  Graf,  v'^^^^"^^  ^^^  strife 
are  ended  now.  For  heaven's  s^^^^j  say  where  I 
may  find  my  father ! " 

"So!  Wouldst  find  him?"r/Plied  Schlangen- 
wald,  fixing  his  look  on  the  eag-^  countenance  of 
the  youth,  while  his  hand,  with  a  ^Ji^g  vcmi^  nerv- 
ous agitation,  was  fumbling  at  \\]  ^  ^®1^- 


DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  31? 

"I  would  bless  you  forever,  could  I  but  free 
him." 

"Know  then,"  said  the  count,  speaking  very 
slowly,  and  still  holding  the  young  knight's  gaze 
with  a  sort  of  intent  fascination,  by  the  stony  glare 
of  his  light  gray  eyes,  "  know  that  thy  villain  father 
is  a  Turkish  slave,  unless  he  be — as  I  hope — wliere 
his  mongrel  son  may  find  him." 

Therewith  came  a  flash,  a  report ;  Friedel  leaped 
back,  staggered,  fell;  Ebbo  started  to  a  sitting 
posture,  with  horrified  eyes,  and  a  loud  shriek,  call- 
ing on  his  brother ;  Moritz  sprang  to  his  feet,  shout- 
ing, "  Shame !  treason ! " 

"I  call  you  to  witness  that  I  had  not  yielded," 
said  the  count.  "  There's  an  end  of  the  brood !" 
and  with  a  grim  smile,  he  straightened  his  limbs, 
and  closed  his  eyes  as  a  dead  man,  ere  the  indignant 
artisans  fell  on  him  in  savage  vengeance. 

All  this  had  passed  like  a  flash  of  lightning,  and 
Friedel  had  almost  at  the  instant  of  his  fall  flung 
himself  toward  his  brother,  and  raising  himself  on 
one  hand,  mth  the  other  clasped  Ebbo's,  saying, 
"  Fear  not ;  it  is  nothing,"  and  he  was  bending  to 
take  Ebbo's  head  again  on  his  knee,  when  a  gush  of 
dark  blood,  from  his  left  side,  caused  Moritz  to  ex- 
claim, "  Ah !  Sir  Friedel,  the  traitor  did  his  work ! 
That  is  no  slight  h  irt." 

"Where?  Ho\>  ?  TherulRan!"  cried  Ebbo,  sup- 
porting himself  on  his  elbow,  so  as  to  see  his  brother 
who  rather  dreamily  put  his  hand  to  his  side,  and, 
looking  at  the  fresh  blood  that  immediately  dyed 


318  DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLETS  NEST, 

it,  said,  "  I  do  not  feel  it.  This  is  more  numb  dull- 
ness than  pain." 

.  "  A  bad  sign  that,"  said  Moritz,  apart  to  one  of 
the  workmen,  with  whom  he  held  counsel  how  to 
carry  back  to  the  castle  the  two  young  knights,  who 
remained  on  the  bank,  Ebbo  partly  extended  on  the 
ground,  partly  supported  on  the  knee  and  arm  of 
Friedel,  who  sat  with  his  head  drooping  over  him, 
their  looks  fixed  on  one  another,  as  if  conscious  of 
nothing  else  on  earth. 

"  Herr  Freiherr,"  said  Moritz,  presently,  "  have 
you  breath  to  wind  your  bugle  to  call  the  men  back 
from  the  pursuit  ? " 

Ebbo  essayed,  but  was  too  faint,  and  Friedel,  rous- 
ing himseK  from  the  stupor,  took  the  horn  from 
him,  and  made  the  mountain  echoes  ring  again,  but 
at  the  expense  of  a  great  effusion  of  blood. 

By  this  time,  however,  Heinz  was  riding  back, 
and  in  a  moment  his  exultation  changed  to  rage  and 
despair,  when  he  saw  the  condition  of  his  young 
lords.  Master  Schleiermacher  proposed  to  lay 
them  on  some  of  the  planks  prepared  for  the  build- 
ing, and  carry  them  up  the  new  road. 

"  Methinks,"  said  Friedel,  "  that  I  could  ride  if  I 
were  lifted  on  horseback,  and  thus  would  our  mother 
be  less  shocked." 

"  Well  thought,"  said  Ebbo.  "  Go  on  and  cheer 
her.  Show  her  thou  canst  keep  the  saddle,  however 
it  may  be  with  me,"  he  added,  with  a  groan  of 
anguish. 

Friedel  made  the  sign  of  the  cross  over  him. 


DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  319 

"  The  holy  cross  keep  us  and  her  Ebbo,"  he  said,  as 
he  bent  to  assist  in  laying  his  brother  on  the  boards, 
where  a  mantle  had  been  spread ;  then  kissed  his 
brow,  saying,  "  We  shall  be  together  again  soon." 

Ebbo  was  lifted  on  the  shoulders  of  his  bearers, 
and  Friedel  strove  to  rise,  with  the  aid  of  Heinz, 
but  sank  back,  unable  to  use  his  limbs  ;  and  Schleier- 
macher  was  the  more  concerned.  "  It  goes  so  with 
the  backbone,"  he  said.  "  Sir  Friedmund,  you  had 
best  be  carried." 

"  Nay,  for  my  mother's  sake !  And  I  would  fain 
be  on  my  good  steed's  back  once  again ! "  he 
entreated.  And  when  with  much  diflSculty  he  had 
been  lifted  to  the  back  of  his  cream-color,  who 
stood  as  gently  and  patiently  as  if  he  understood  the 
exigency  of  the  moment,  he  sat  upright,  and  waved 
his  hand  as  he  passed  the  litter,  while  Ebbo,  on  his 
side,  signed  to  him  to  speed  on  and  prepare  their 
mother.  Long,  however,  before  the  castle  .was 
reached,  dizzy  confusion  and  leaden  helplessness, 
when  no  longer  stimulated  by  his  brother's  presence, 
so  grew  on  him  that  it  was  with  much  ado  that 
Heinz  could  keep  him  in  his  saddle ;  but,  when  he 
saw  his  mother  in  the  castle  gateway,  he  again  col- 
lected his  forces,  bade  Heinz  withdraw  his  support- 
ing arm,  and,  straightening  himself,  waved  a  greet- 
ing to  her,  as  he  called  cheerily :  "  Victory,  dear 
mother.  Ebbo  has  overthrown  the  count,  and 
you  must  not  be  grieved  if  it  be  at  some  cost  of 
blood." 

"  Alas,  my  son ! "  was  all  Christina  could  say,  for 


320  DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

his  effort  at  gayety  formed  a  ghastly  contrast  with 
the  gray,  livid  hue  that  overspread  his  fair  young 
face,  his  bloody  armor,  and  damp  disordered  hair, 
and  even  his  stiff  unearthly  smile. 

"  I^ay,  motherling,"  he  added,  as  she  came  so  near 
that  he  could  put  his  arm  round  her  neck,  "  sorrow 
not,  for  Ebbo  will  need  thee  much.  And,  mother," 
as  his  face  lighted  up,  "  there  is  joy  coming  to  you. 
Only  I  would  that  I  could  have  brought  him. 
Mother,  he  died  not  under  the  Schlangenwald 
swords." 

"Who?  ISTot  Ebbo?"  cried  the  bewildered 
mother. 

"  Your  own  Ebqrhard,  our  father,"  said  Friedel, 
raising  her  face  to  him  with  his  hand,  and  adding, 
as  he  met  a  startled  look,  "  The  cruel  count  owned 
it  with  his  last  breath.  He  is  a  Turkish  slave,  and 
surely  heaven  will  give  him  back  to  comfort  you, 
even  though  we  may  not  work  his  freedom !  Oh, 
mother,  I  had  so  longed  for  it,  but  God  be  thanked 
that  at  least  certainty  was  bought  by  my  life." 
The  last  words  were  uttered  almost  unconsciously, 
and  he  had  nearly  fallen,  as  the  excitement  faded ; 
but,  as  they  were  lifting  him  down,  he  bent  once 
more  and  kissed  the  glossy  neck  of  his  horse. 
"  Ah !  poor  fellow,  thou  too  wilt  be  lonely.  May 
Ebbo  yet  ride  thee ! " 

The  mother  had  no  time  for  grief.  Alas !  She 
might  have  full  time  for  that  by-and-by !  The  one 
wish  of  the  twins  was  to  be  together,  and  presently 
both  were  laid  on  the  great  bed  in  the  upper  chamber, 


DO  VE  IN  THE  EA  OLE  '8  NEST.  321 

Ebbo  in  a  swoon  from  the  pain  of  the  transport,  and 
Friedel  lying  so  as  to  meet  the  first  look  of  recovery. 
And,  after  Ebbo's  eyes  had  re-opened,  they  watched 
one  another  in  silence  for  a  short  space,  till  Ebbo 
said :  "  Is  that  the  hue  of  death  on  thy  face, 
brother?" 

"  I  well  believe  so,"  said  Friedel. 

"Ever  together,"  said  Ebbo,  holding  his  hand. 
"  But  alas !  My  mother  !  Would  I  had  never  sent 
thee  to  the  traitor. 

"Ah!  So  comes  her  comfort,"  said  Friedel. 
"  Heard  you  not  ?  He  owned  that  my  father  was 
among  the  Turks." 

"  And  I,"  cried  Ebbo.  "  I  have  withheld  thee ! 
Oh,  Friedel,  had  I  listened  to  thee,  thou  hadst  not 
been  in  this  fatal  broil ! " 

"I^ay.  ever  together,"  repeated  Friedel. 
"  Through  Ulm  merchants  will  my  mother  be  able 
to  ransom  him.  I  know  she  will,  so  oft  have  I 
dreamed  of  his  return.  Then,  mother,  you  will 
give  him  our  duteous  greetings;"  and  he  smiled 
again. 

Like  one  in  a  dream  Christina  returned  his  smile, 
because  she  saw  he  wished  it,  just  as  the  moment 
before  she  had  been  trying  to  stanch  his  wound. 

It  was  plain  that  the  injuries,  except  Ebbo's  sword- 
cut,  were  far  beyond  her  skill,  and  she  could  only 
endeavor  to  check  the  bleeding  till  better  aid  could 
be  obtained  from  Ulm.  Thither  Moritz  Schleier- 
macher  had  already  sent,  and  he  assured  her  that 
he  was  far  from  despairing  of  the  elder  baron,  but 


322  DO  VE  IN  THS  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

she  derived  little  hope  from  his  words,  for  gun- 
shot wounds  were  then  so  ill  understood  as  gener- 
ally to  prove  fatal. 

Moreover,  there  was  an  undefined  impression 
that  the  two  lives  must  end  in  the  same  hour,  even 
as  they  had  begun.  Indeed,  Ebbo  was  suffering  so 
terribly,  and  was  so  much  spent  with  pain  and  loss 
of  blood,  that  he  seemed  sinking  much  faster  than 
Friedel,  whose  wound  bled  less  freely,  and  who 
only  seemed  benumbed  and  torpid,  except  when  he 
roused  himself  to  speak,  or  was  distressed  by  the 
writhings  and  moans  which,  however,  for  his  sake, 
Ebbo  restrained  as  much  as  he  could. 

To  be  together  seemed  an  all-sufficient  consolation, 
and,  when  the  chaplain  came  sorrowfully  to  give 
them  the  last  rites  of  the  church,  Ebbo  implored  him 
to  pray  that  he  might  not  be  left  behind  long  in 
purgatory. 

"  Friedel,"  he  said,  clasping  his  brother's  hand, 
"  is  even  like  the  holy  Sebastian  or  Maurice ;  but  I 
— I  was  never  such  as  he.  O  father,  will  it  be  my 
penance  to  be  left  alone  when  he  is  in  paradise  ? " 

"  What  is  that  ? "  said  Friedel,  partially  roused  by 
the  sound  of  his  name,  and  the  involuntary  pressure 
of  his  hand.  "  Nay,  Ebbo ;  one  repentance,  one 
cross,  one  hope,"  and  he  relapsed  into  a  dose,  while 
Ebbo  murmured  over  a  broken,  brief  confession — 
exhausting  by  its  vehemence  of  self -accusation  for 
his  proud  spirit,  his  willful  neglect  of  his  lost  father, 
his  hot  contempt  of  prudent  counsel. 

Then^  when  the  priest  came  round  to  Friedel's 


DO  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  323 

side,  and  the  boy  was  wakened  to  make  his  shrift, 
the  words  were  contrite  and  humble,  but  calm  and 
full  of  trust.  They  were  like  tAVO  of  their  own 
mountain  streams,  the  waters  almost  equally  unde- 
filed  by  external  stain — yet  one  struggling,  agi- 
tated, whirling  giddily  round ;  the  other  still,  trans- 
parent, and  the  light  of  heaven  smiling  in  its 
clearness. 

The  farewell  greetings  of  the  church  on  earth 
breathed  soft  and  sweet  in  their  loftiness,  and  Friedel, 
though  lying  motionless,  and  with  closed  eyes, 
never  failed  in  the  murmured  response,  whether 
fully  conscious  or  not,  while  his  brother  only  at- 
tended by  fits  and  starts,  and  was  evidently  often  in 
too  much  pain  to  know  what  was  passing. 

Help  was  nearer  than  had  been  hoped.  The  sum- 
mons despatched  the  night  before  had  been  responded 
to  by  the  vintners  and  mercers ;  their  train  bands 
had  set  forth,  and  their  captain,  a  cautious  man, 
never  rode  into  the  way  of  blows  without  his  sur- 
geon at  hand.  And  so  it  came  to  pass  that,  before 
the  sun  was  low  on  that  long  and  grievous  day.  Doctor 
Johannes  Butteman  was  led  into  the  upper  cham- 
ber, where  the  mother  looked  up  to  him  with  a  kind 
of  hopeless  gratitude  on  her  face,  which  was  nearly 
as  white  as  those  of  her  sons.  The  doctor  soon  saw 
that  Friedel  was  past  human  aid  ;  but  when  he  de- 
clared that  there  was  fair  hope  for  the  other  youth, 
Friedel,  whose  torpor  had  been  dispelled  by  the  ex- 
amination, looked  up  with  his  beaming  smile,  saying, 
^'  There,  motherling." 


324^  I>OVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

The  doctor  then  declared  that  he  could  not  deal 
with  the  baron's  wound  unless  he  were  the  sole 
occupant  of  the  bed,  and  this  sentence  brought  the 
first  cloud  of  grief  or  dread  to  Friedel's  brow,  but 
only  for  a  moment.  He  looked  at  his  brother,  who 
had  again  fainted  at  the  first  touch  of  his  wounded 
limb,  and  said,  "  It  is  well.  Tell  the  dear  Ebbo 
that  I  cannot  help  it  if  after  all  I  go  to  the  praying, 
and  leave  him  the  fighting.  Dear,  dear  Ebbo !  One 
day  together  again  and  forever !  I  leave  thee  for 
thine  own  sake."  With  much  effort  he  signed  the 
cross  again  on  his  brother's  brow,  and  kissed  it  long 
and  fervently.  Then,  as.  all  stood  round,  reluctant 
to  effect  this  severance,  or  disturb  one  on  whom 
death  was  visibly  fast  approaching,  he  struggled  up 
on  his  elbow,  and  held  out  the  other  hand,  saying, 
"  Take  me  now,  Heinz,  ere  Ebbo  revive  to  be  grieved. 
The  last  sacrifice,"  he  further  whispered,  while 
almost  giving  himself  to  Heinz  and  Moritz  to  be 
carried  to  his  own  bed  in  the  turret  chamber. 

There,  even  as  they  laid  him  down,  began  what 
seemed  to  be  the  mortal  agony,  and,  though  he  was 
scarcely  sensible,  his  mother  felt  that  her  prime  call 
was  to  him,  while  his  brother  was  in  other  hands. 
Perhaps  it  was  well  for  her.  Surgical  practice  was 
rough,  and  wounds  made  by  fire-arms  were  thought 
to  have  imbibed  a  poison  that  made  treatment  be 
supposed  efficacious  in  proportion  to  the  pain  in- 
flicted. When  Ebbo  was  recalled  by  the  torture  to 
see  no  white  reflection  of  his  own  face  on  the  pillow 
beside  him,  and  to  feel  in  vain  for  the  grasp  of  the 


DO  VE  m  THE  EAGLE' ^  NEST.  325 

cold  damp  hand,  a  delirious  frenzy  seized  him,  and 
the  struggles  were  frustrating  the  doctor's  attempts, 
when  a  low  soft  sweet  song  stole  through  the  open 
door. 

"  Friedel !  "  he  murmured,  and  held  his  breath  to 
listen.  All  through  the  declining  day  did  the  gentle 
sound  continue ;  now  of  grand  chants  or  hymns 
caught  from  the  cathedral  choir,  now  of  songs  of 
chivalry  or  saintly  legend  so  often  sung  over  the 
evening  fire ;  the  one  flowing  into  the  other  in  the 
wandering  of  ailing  powers,  but  never  failing  in  the 
tender  sweetness  that  had  distinguished  Friedel 
through  life.  And,  whenever  that  voice  was  heard, 
let  them  do  to  him  w^hat  they  would,  Ebbo  was  still 
absorbed  in  intense  listening  so  as  not  to  lose  a  note, 
and  lulled  almost  out  of  sense  of  suffering  by  that 
SAvan-like  music.  If  his  attendants  made  such  noise 
as  to  break  in  on  it,  or  if  it  ceased  for  a  moment,  the 
anguish  returned,  but  was  charmed  away  by  the 
weakest,  faintest  resumption  of  the  song.  Probably 
Friedel  knew  not,  with  any  earthly  sense,  what  he 
was  doing,  but  to  the  very  last  he  was  serving  his 
twin  brother  as  none  other  could  have  aided  him  in 
his  need. 

The  September  sun  had  set,  twilight  was  coming 
on,  the  doctor  had  worked  his  stern  will,  and  Ebbo, 
quivering  in  every  fibre,  lay  spent  on  his  pillow, 
when  his  mother  glided  in,  and  took  her  seat  near 
him,  though  where  she  hoped  he  would  not  notice 
her  presence.  But  he  raised  his  eyelids,  and  said, 
"  He  is  not  singing  now." 


326  DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLETS  NEST, 

"  Singing  indeed,  but  where  we  cannot  hear  him,'* 
she  answered.  'Whiter  than  the  snow,  clearer 
than  the  ice-cave,  more  solemn  than  the  choir.  They 
will  come  at  last.'  That  was  what  he  said,  even  as 
he  entered  there."  And  the  low  dove-like  tone  and 
tender  calm  face  continued  upon  Ebbo  the  spell 
that  the  chant  had  left.  He  dozed  as  though  still 
lulled  by  its  echo. 


DOVE  m  TBE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  3S7 


CHAPTEE  XX. 

THE  WOUNDED    EAGLE. 

The  stab  and  the  spark  in  the  stubble !  Often 
did  the  presage  of  her  dream  occur  to  Christina,  and 
assist  in  sustaining  her  hopes  during  the  days  that 
Ebbo's  life  hung  in  the  balance,  and  he  himself  had 
hardly  consciousness  to  realize  either  his  brother's 
death  or  his  own  state,  save  as  much  as  was  shown 
by  the  words,  "  Let  him  not  be  taken  away,  mother ; 
let  him  wait  for  me." 

Friedmund  did  wait,  in  his  coffin  before  the  altar 
in  the  castle  chapel,  covered  with  a  pall  of  blue 
velvet,  and  great  white  cross,  mournfully  sent  by 
Hausfrau  Johanna ;  his  sword,  shield,  helmet,  and 
spurs  laid  on  it,  and  wax  tapers  burning  at  the  head 
and  feet.  And,  when  Christina  could  leave  the  one 
son  on  his  couch  of  suffering,  it  was  to  kneel  beside 
the  other  son  on  his  narrow  bed  of  rest,  and  recall, 
like  a  breath  of  solace,  the  heavenly  loveliness  and 
peace  that  rested  on  his  features  when  she  had  taken 
her  last  long  look  at  them. 

Moritz  Schleiermacher  assisted  at  Sir  Friedmund's 
first  solemn  requiem,  and  then  made  a  journey  to 
TJlm,  whence  he  returned  to  find  the  baron's  danger 
so  much  abated  that  he  ventured  on  begging  for  an 


3^8  DOVE  IN  THE  JSAGLE'8  N^ST, 

interview  with  the  lady,  in  which  he  explained  his 
purpose  of  repairing  at  once  to  the  imperial  camp, 
taking  with  him  a  letter  from  the  guilds  concerned 
in  the  bridge,  and  using  his  personal  influence  with 
Maximilian  to  obtain  not  only  pardon  for  the  com- 
bat but  authoritative  sanction  to  the  erection. 
Dankwart  of  Schlangenwald,  the  Teutonic  knight, 
and  only  heir  of  old  Wolfgang,  was  supposed  to  be 
with  the  emperor,  and  it  might  be  possible  to  come 
to  terms  with  him,  since  his  breeding  in  the  Prussian 
commanderies  had  kept  him  aloof  from  the  feuds  of 
his  father  and  brother.  This  mournful  fight  had  to 
a  certain  extent  equalized  the  injuries  on  either  side, 
since  the  man  whom  Friedel  had  cut  down  was 
Hierom,  one  of  the  few  remaining  scions  of  Schlan- 
genwald, and  there  was  thus  no  dishonor  in  trying 
to  close  the  deadly  feud,  and  coming  to  an  amicable 
arrangement  about  the  Debatable  Strand,  the 
cause  of  so  much  bloodshed.  What  was  now  wanted 
was  Freiherr  Eberhard's  signature  to  the  letter  to 
the  emperor,  and  his  authority  for  making  terms 
with  the  new  count ;  and  haste  was  needed,  lest  the 
markgraf  of  Wurtemburg  should  represent  the 
affray  in  the  light  of  an  outrage  against  a  member 
of  the  League. 

Christina  saw  the  necessity,  and  undertook  if  pos- 
sible to  obtain  her  son's  signature,  but,  at  the  first 
mention  of  Master  Moritz  and  the  bridge,  Ebbo 
turned  away  his  head,  groaned,  and  begged  to  hear 
no  more  of  either.  He  thought  of  his  bold  declara- 
tion that  the  bridge  must  be  built,  even  at  the  cost 


DOVE  tN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  329 

of  blood !  Little  did  he  then  guess  of  whose  blood ! 
And  in  his  bitterness  of  spirit  he  felt  a  jealousy  of 
that  influence  of  Schleiermacher,  which  had  of  late 
come  between  him  and  his  brother.  He  hated  the 
very  name,  he  said,  and  hid  his  face  with  a  shudder. 
He  hoped  the  torrent  would  sweep  away  every  frag- 
ment of  the  bridge. 

"  Kay,  Ebbo  mine,  wherefore  wish  ill  to  a  good 
work  that  our  blessed  one  loved  ?  Listen,  and  let 
me  tell  you  my  dream  for  making  yonder  strand 
a  peaceful  memorial  of  our  peaceful  boy." 

"  To  honor  Friedel  ?  "  and  he  gazed  on  her  with 
something  like  interest  in  his  eyes. 

"  Yes,  Ebbo,  and  as  he  would  best  brook  honor. 
Let  us  seek  forever  to  end  the  rival  claims  to  yon 
piece  of  meadow  by  praying  this  knight  of  a  re- 
ligious order,  the  new  count,  to  unite  with  us  in 
building  there — or  as  near  as  may  be  safe — a  church 
of  holy  peace,  and  a  cell  for  a  priest,  who  may 
watch  over  the  bridge  ward,  and  offer  the  holy  sac- 
rifice for  the  departed  of  either  house.  There  will 
we  place  our  gentle  Friedel  to  be  the  first  to  guard 
the  peace  of  the  ford,  and  there  will  we  sleep  our- 
selves when  our  time  shall  gome,  and  so  may  the 
cruel  feud  of  many  generations  be  slaked  forever." 

"  In  his  blood ! "  sighed  Ebbo.  "  Ah  !  would  that 
it  had  been  mine,  mother.  It  'is  well,  as  well  as 
anything  can  be  again.  So  shall  the  spot  where  he 
feU  be  made  sacred,  and  fenced  from  rude  feet,  and 
we  shall  see  his  fair  effigy  keeping  his  armed  watch 
there." 


S30  I>0  VE  m  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

And  Christina  was  thankful  to  see  his  look  of 
gratification,  sad  though  it  was.  She  sat  down  near 
his  bed,  and  began  to  write  a  letter  in  their  joint 
names  to  Graf  Dankwart  von  Schlangenwald,  pro- 
posing that  thus,  after  the  even  balance  of  the 
wrongs  of  the  two  houses,  their  mutual  hostility 
might  be  laid  to  rest  forever  by  the  consecration  of 
the  cause  of  their  long  contention.  It  was  a  stiff 
and  formal  letter,  full  of  the  set  pious  formularies 
of  the  age,  scarcely  revealing  the  deep  heart-feel- 
ing within ;  but  it  was  to  the  purpose,  and  Ebbo, 
after  hearing  it  read,  heartily  approved,  and  con- 
sented to  sign  both  it  and  those  that  Schleiermacher 
had  brought.  Christina  held  the  scroll,  and  placed 
the  pen  in  the  fingers  that  had  lately  so  easily 
wielded  the  heavy  sword,  but  now  felt  it  a  far 
greater  effort  to  guide  the  slender  quill. 

Moritz  Schleiermacher  went  his  way  in  search  of 
the  king  of  the  Romans,  far  off  in  Carinthia.  A 
full  reply  could  not  be  expected  till  the  campaign 
was  over,  and  all  that  was  known  for  some  time 
was  through  a  messenger  sent  back  to  Ulm  by 
Schleiermacher  with  the  intelligence  that  Maximil- 
ian would  examine  into  the  matter  after  his  return, 
and  that  Count  Dankwart  would  reply  when  he 
should  come  to  perform  his  father's  obsequies  after 
the  army  was  dispersed.  There  was  also  a  letter  of 
kind  though  courtly  condolence  from  Kasimir  of 
Wildschloss,  much  grieving  for  gallant  young  Sir 
Friedmund,  proffering  all  the  advocacy  he  could 
give  the  cause  of  Adlerstein,  and  covertly  proffer- 


DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.    ^  331 

ing  the  protection  that  she  and  her  remaining  son 
might  now  be  more  disposed  to  accept.  Christina 
suppressed  this  letter,  knowing  it  would  only  pain 
and  irritate  Ebbo,  and  that  she  had  her  answer 
ready.  Indeed,  in  her  grief  for  one  son,  and  her 
anxiety  for  the  other,  perhaps  it  was  this  letter  that 
first  made  her  fully  realize  the  drift  of  those  earnest 
words  of  Friedel's  respecting  his  father. 

Meantime  the  mother  and  son  were  alone  to- 
gether, with  much  of  suffering  and  of  sorrow,  yet 
with  a  certain  tender  comfort  in  the  being  all  in  all 
to  one  another,  with  none  to  intermeddle  with  their 
mutual  love  and  grief.  It  was  to  Christina  as  if 
something  of  Friedel's  sweetness  had  passed  to  his 
brother  in  his  patient  helplessness,  and  that,  while 
thus  fully  engrossed  with  him,  she  had  both  her 
sons  in  one.  Nay,  in  spite  of  all  the  pain,  grief, 
and  weariness,  these  were  times  when  both  dreaded 
any  change,  and  the  full  recovery,  when  not  only 
would  the  loss  of  Friedel  be  every  moment  freshly 
brought  home  to  his  brother,  but  when  Ebbo  would 
go  in  quest  of  his  father. 

For  on  this  the  young  baron  had  fixed  his  mind 
as  a  sacred  duty,  from  the  moment  he  had  seen  that 
life  was  to  be  his  lot.  He  looked  on  his  neglect  of 
indications  of  the  possibility  of  his  father's  life  in 
the  light  of  a  sin  that  had  led  to  all  his  disasters, 
and  not  only  regarded  the  intended  search  as  a 
token  of  repentance,  but  as  a  charge  bequeathed  to 
him  by  his  less  selfish  brother.  He  seldom  spoke  of 
his  intention^  but  his  mother  was  perfectly  aware 


332       •        DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST, 

of  it,  and  never  thought  of  it  without  such  an 
agony  of  foreboding  dread  as  eclipsed  all  the  hope 
that  lay  beyond.  She  could  only  turn  away  her 
mind  from  the  thought,  and  be  thankful  for  what 
was  still  her  own  from  day  to  day. 

"  Art  weary,  my  son  ? "  asked  Christina  one 
October  afternoon,  as  Ebbo  lay  on  his  bed,  languidly 
turning  the  pages  of  a  noble  folio  of  the  Legends 
of  the  Saints  that  Master  Gottfried  had  sent  for 
his  amusement.  It  was  such  a  book  as  fixed  the 
ardor  a  few  years  later  of  the  wounded  JSTavarrese 
knight,  Inigo  de  Loyola,  but  Ebbo  handled  it  as 
if  each  page  were  lead. 

"  Only  thinking  how  Friedel  would  have  glowed 
toward  these  as  his  own  kinsmen,"  said  Ebbo.  "  Then 
should  I  have  cared  to  read  of  them  !  "  and  he  gave 
a  long  sigh. 

"  Let  me  take  away  the  book,"  she  said.  "  Thou 
hast  read  long,  and  it  is  dark." 

"  So  dark  that  there  must  surely  be  a  snow- 
cloud." 

"  Snow  is  falling  in  the  large  flakes  that  our 
Friedel  used  to  call  winter-butterflies." 

"  Butterflies  that  will  swarm  and  shut  us  in  from 
the  weary  world,"  said  Ebbo.  "  And  alack !  when 
they  go,  what  a  turmoil  it  will  be  !  Councils  in  the 
Eathhaus,  appeals  to  the  League,  wranglings  with 
the  markgraf,  wise  saws,  overweening  speeches,  all 
alike  dull  and  dead." 

"  It  will  scarce  be  so  when  strength  and  spirit 
have  returned,  mine  Ebbo." 


DOVE  m  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  333 

"  Kever  can  life  be  more  to  me  than  the  way  to 
him,"  said  the  lonely  boy  ;  "  and  I— never  like  him 
— shall  miss  the  road  without  him." 

While  he  thus  spoke  in  the  listless  dejection  of 
sorrow  and  weakness,  Hatto's  a  ged  step  was  on  the 
stair.  "  Gracious  lady,"  he  said,  "  here  is  a  hunts- 
man bewildered  in  the  hills,  who  has  been  asking 
shelter  from  the  storm  that  is  drifting  up." 

"  See  to  his  entertainment,  then.  Hat  to,"  said  the 
lady. 

"My  lady — sir  baron,"  added  Hatto,  "I  had  not 
come  up  but  that  this  guest  seems  scarce  gear  for  us 
below.  He  is  none  of  the  foresters  of  our  tract. 
His  hair  is  perfumed,  his  shirt  is  fine  hoUand,  his 
buff  suit  is  of  softest  skin,  his  baldric  has  a  jeweled 
clasp,  and  his  arblast !  It  would  do  my  lord  baron's 
heart  good  only  to  cast  eyes  on  the  perfect  make 
of  that  arblast !  He  has  a  lordly  tread,  and  a 
stately  presence,  and,  though  he  has  a  free  tongue 
and  made  friends  with  us  as  he  dried  his  garments, 
he  asked  after  my  lord  like  his  equal." 

"  O  mother,  must  you  play  the  chatelaine  ? " 
asked  Ebbo.  "Who  can  the  fellow  be«"  Why 
did  none  ever  so  come  when  they  would  have  been 
more  welcome  ? " 

"  Welcomed  must  he  be,"  said  Christina,  rising, 
"  and  thy  state  shall  be  my  excuse  for  not  tarrying 
longer  with  him  than  may  be  needful." 

Yet,  though  shrinking  from  the  stranger's  face,  she 
was  not  without  hope  that  the  variety  might  whole- 
somely rouse  her  son  from  his  depression,  and  in 


334  DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST, 

effect  Ebbo  when  left  with  Hatto,  minutely 
questioned  him  on  the  appearance  of  the  stranger, 
and  watched,  with  much  curiosity,  for  his  mother's 
return. 

"Ebbo  mine,"  she  said,  entering,  after  a  long 
interval,  "  the  knight  asks  to  see  thee  either  after 
supper,  or  to-morrow  morn." 

"Then  a  knight  he  is?" 

"  Yea,  truly,  a  knight  truly  in  every  look  and 
gesture,  bearing  his  head  like  the  leading  stag  of  the 
herd,  and  yet  right  gracious." 

"  Gracious  to  you,  mother,  in  your  own  hall  ? " 
cried  Ebbo,  almost  fiercely. 

"  Ah !  jealous  champion,  thou  couldst  not  take 
offense !  It  was  the  manner  of  one  free  and  cour- 
teous to  every  one,  and  yet  with  an  inherent  lofti- 
ness that  pervades  all." 

"  Gives  he  no  name  ? "  said  Ebbo. 

"  He  calls  himself  Ritter  Theurdank,  of  the  suite 
of  the  late  kaiser,  but  I  should  deem  him  wont 
rather  to  lead  than  to  follow." 

"Theurdank,"  repeated  Eberhard,  "I  know  no 
such  name  !  So,  motherling,  are  you  going  to  sup  ? 
I  shall  not  sleep  till  I  have  seen  him ! " 

"  Hold,  dear  son."  She  leaned  over  him  and 
spoke  low.  "  See  him  thou  must,  but  let  me  first 
station  Heinz  and  Koppel  at  the  door  with  halberds, 
not  within  earshot,  but  thou  are  so  entirely  defense- 
less." 

She  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  him  laugh.  "  Less 
defenseless  than  when  the  kinsman  of  Wildschloss 


DO  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST,  335 

here  visited  us,  mother  ?  I  see  for  whom  thou  tak- 
est  him,  but  let  it  be  so ;  a  spiritual  knight  would 
scarce  wreak  his  vengeance  on  a  wounded  man  in 
his  bed.  I  will  not  have  him  insulted  with  precau- 
tions. If  he  has  freely  risked  himself  in  my  hands, 
I  will  as  freely  risk  myself  in  his.  Moreover,  I 
thought  he  had  won  thy  heart." 

"  Keigned  over  it,  rather,"  said  Christina.  "  It  is 
but  the  disguise  that  I  suspect  and  mistrust.  Bid 
me  not  leave  thee  alone  Avith  him,  ray  son." 

"  I^ay,  dear  mother,"  said  Ebbo,  "  the  matters  on 
which  he  is  like  to  speak  will  brook  no  presence 
save  our  own,  and  even  that  will  be  hard  enough  to 
bear.  So  prop  me  more  upright !  So  !  And  comb 
out  these  locks  somewhat  smoother.  Thanks, 
mother.  Now  can  he  see  whether  he  will  choose 
Eberhard  of  Adlerstein  for  friend  or  foe." 

By  the  time  supper  was  ended,  the  only  light  in 
the  upper  room  came  from  the  flickering  flames  of 
the  fire  of  pine  knots  on  the  hearth.  It  glanced  on 
the  pale  features  and  dark  sad  eyes  of  the  young 
baron,  sad  in  spite  of  the  eager  look  of  scrutiny  that 
he  turned  on  the  figure  that  entered  at  the  door, 
and  approached  so  quickly  that  the  partial  light 
only  served  to  show  the  gloss  of  long  fair  hair,  the 
glint  of  a  jeweled  belt,  and  the  outline  of  a  tall, 
well-knit,  agile  frame. 

"  Welcome,  Herr  Eitter,"  he  said ;  "  I  am  sorry 
we  have  been  unable  to  give  you  a  fitter  recep- 
tion." 

"  No  host  could  be  more  fully  excused  than  you," 


336  DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST, 

said  the  stranger,  and  Ebbo  started  at  his  voice. 
"  I  fear  you  have  suffered  much,  and  still  have  much 
to  suffer." 

"My  sword  wound  is  healing  fast,"  said  Ebbo; 
"  it  is  the  shot  in  my  broken  thigh  that  is  so  tedious 
and  painful." 

"  And  I  dare  be  sworn  the  leeches  made  it  worse. 
I  have  hated  all  leeches  ever  since  they  kept  me 
three  days  a  prisoner  in  a  'pothecary's  shop  stink- 
ing with  drugs.  Why,  I  have  cured  myself  with 
one  pitcher  of  water  of  a  raging  fever,  in  their  very 
despite !     How  did  they  serve  thee,  my  poor  boy  ?  " 

"  They  poured  hot  oil  into  the  wound  to  remove 
the  venom  of  the  lead,"  said  Ebbo. 

"  Had  it  been  my  case  the  lead  should  have  been 
in  their  own  brains  first,  though  that  were  scarce 
needed,  the  heavy-witted  Hans  Sausages.  Why 
should  there  be  more  poison  in  lead  than  in  steel  ? 
I  have  asked  all  my  surgeons  that  question,  nor  ever 
had  a  reasonable  answer.  Greater  havoc  of  war- 
riors do  they  make  than  ever  with  the  arquebus — 
ay,  even  when  every  lanzknecht  bears  one." 

"  Alack ! "  Ebbo  could  not  help  exclaiming, 
"  where  will  be  room  for  chivalry  ? " 

"Talk  not  old  world  nonsense,"  said  Theur- 
dank ;  "  chivalry  is  in  the  heart,  not  in  the  weapon. 
A  youth  beforehand  enough  with  the  world  to  be 
building  bridges  should  know  that,  when  all  our 
troops  are  provided  with  such  an  arm,  then  will 
their  platoons  in  serried  ranks  be  as  a  solid  wall 
breathing  fire,  and  as  impregnable  as  the  lines  of 


DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST,  337 

English  archers  with  long  bows,  or  the  phalanx  of 
Macedon.  And,  when  each  man  bears  a  pistol 
instead  of  the  misericorde,  his  life  will  be  far  more 
his  own." 

Ebbo's  face  was  in  full  light,  and  his  visitor 
marked  his  contracted  brow  and  trembling  lip.  "Ah," 
he  said,  "thou  has  had  foul  experience  of  these 
weapons." 

"  ]S"ot  mine  own  hurt,"  said  Ebbo ;  "  that  was  but 
fair  chance  of  war." 

"  I  understand,"  said  the  knight ;  "  it  was  the  shot 
that  severed  the  goodly  bond  that  was  so  fair  to  see. 
Young  man,  none  has  grieved  more  truly  than  King 
Max." 

"  And  well  he  may,"  said  Ebbo.  "  He  has  not  lost 
merely  one  of  his  best  servants,  but  all  the  better 
half  of  another." 

"  There  is  still  stuff  enough  left  to  make  that  one 
well  worth  having,"  said  Theurdank,  kindly  grasp- 
ing his  hand,  "  though  I  would  it  were  more  sub- 
stantial !  How  didst  get  old  Wolfgang  down,  boy  ? 
He  must  have  been  a  tough  morsel  for  slight  bones 
like  these,  even  when  better  covered  than  now. 
Come,  tell  me  all.  I  promised  the  markgraf  of 
Wurtemburg  to  look  into  the  matter  Avhen  I  came 
to  be  guest  at  St.  Ruprecht's  cloister,  and  I  have 
some  small  interest  too  with  King  Max." 

His  kindliness  and  sympathy  were  more  effect- 
ual with  Ebbo  than  the  desire  to  represent  his  case 
favorably,  for  he  was  still  too  wretched  to  care 
for  policy ;  but  he  answered  Theurdank's  questions 


338  1^0  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

readily,  and  explained  how  the  idea  of  the  bridge 
had  originated  in  the  vigil  beside  the  broken 
wagons. 

"  I  hope,"  said  Theurdank,  "  the  merchants 
made  up  thy  share  ?  These  overthrown  goods  are 
a  seignorial  right  of  one  or  other  of  you  lords  of  the 
bank." 

"  True,  Herr  Kitter ;  but  we  deemed  it  un- 
knightly  to  snatch  at  what  travelers  lost  by  mis- 
fortune." 

"  Freiherr  Eberhard,  take  my  word  for  it,  while 
thou  thus  boldest,  all  the  arquebuses  yet  to  be  cut 
out  of  the  Black  Forest  will  not  mar  thy  chivalry. 
Where  didst  get  these  ways  of  thinking  ? " 

"My  brother  was  a  very  St.  Sebastian!  My 
mother " 

"  Ah,  her  sweet  wise  face  would  have  shown  it, 
even  had  not  poor  Kasimir  of  Adlerstein  raved  of 
her.  Ah,  lad,  thou  hast  crossed  a  case  of  true  love 
there !  Canst  not  brook  even  such  a  gallant  step- 
father?" 

"  I  may  not,"  said  Ebbo,  with  spirit ; "  for  with  his 
last  breath  Schlangenwald  owned  that  my  own 
father  died  not  at  the  hostel,  but  may  now  be  alive 
as]a  Turkish  slave." 

"The  devil!"  burst  out  Theurdank.  "Well! 
that  might  have  been  a  pretty  mess !  A  Turk- 
ish slave,  saidst  thou !  What  year  chanced  all 
this  matter — thy  grandfather's  murder  and  all  the 
rest  ? " 

"  The  year  before  my  birth,"  said  Ebbo.  "  It  was 
in  the  September  of  1475." 


DOVE  m  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  339 

"  Ha,"  muttered  Theurdank,  musing  to  himself  ; 
"  that  was  the  year  the  dotard  Schenk  got  his  over- 
throw at  the  fight  of  Kain  on  Sare  from  the  Moslem. 
Some  composition  was  made  by  them,  and  old 
Wolfgang  was  not  unlikely  to  have  been  the  go-be- 
tween. So !  Say  on,  young  knight,"  he  added, "  let 
us  to  the  matter  in  hand.  How  rose  the  strife  that 
kept  back  two  troops  from  our — ^from  the  banner  of 
the  empire  ? " 

Ebbo  proceeded  with  the  narration,  and  concluded 
it  just  as  the  bell  now  belonging  to  the  chapel  be- 
gan to  toll  for  compline,  and  Theurdank  prepared 
to  obey  its  summons,  first,  however,  asking  if  he 
should  send  any  one  to  the  patient.  Ebbo  thanked 
him,  but  said  he  needed  no  one  till  his  mother  should 
come  after  prayers. 

"  Nay,  I  told  thee  I  had  some  leechcraft.  Thou 
art  weary,  and  must  rest  more  entirely : "  and  giv- 
ing him  little  choice,  Theurdank  supported  him  with 
one  arm  while  removing  the  pillows  that  propped 
him,  then  laid  him  tenderly  down,  saying,  "  Good 
night,  and  the  saints  bless  thee,  brave  young  knight. 
Sleep  well,  and  recover  in  spite  of  the  leeches.  I 
cannot  afford  to  lose  both  of  you." 

Ebbo  strove  to  follow  mentally  the  services  that 
were  being  performed  in  the  chapel,  and  whose 
"  Amens "  and  louder  notes  pealed  up  to  him,  de- 
void of  the  clear  young  tones  that  had  sung  their 
last  here  below,  but  swelled  by  grand  bass  notes 
that  as  much  distracted  Ebbo's  attention  as  the 
memory  of  his  guest's  conversation  ;  and  he  im- 
patiently awaited  his  mother's  arrival. 


340  DOVE  m  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

At  length,  lamp  in  hand,  she  appeared  with  tears 
shining  in  her  eyes,  and  bending  over  him  said : 

"  He  hath  done  honor  to  our  blessed  one,  my 
Ebbo ;  he  knelt  by  him,  and  crossed  him  with  holy 
water,  and  when  he  led  me  from  the  chapel  he  told 
me  any  mother  in  Germany  might  envy  me  my 
two  sons  even  now.  Thou  must  love  him  now, 
Ebbo." 

"  Love  him  as  one  loves  one's  loftiest  model,"  said 
Ebbo —  "  value  the  old  castle  the  more  for  shelter- 
ing him." 

"  Hath  he  made  himself  known  to  thee  ? " 

"  Not  openly,  but  there  is  only  one  that  he  can 
be." 

Christina  smiled,  thankful  that  the  work  of  par- 
don and  reconciliation  had  been  thus  softened  by 
the  personal  qualities  of  the  enemy,  whose  conduct 
in  the  chapel  had  deeply  moved  her. 

"  Then  all  will  be  well,  blessedly  well,"  she  said. 

"  So  I  trust,"  said  Ebbo,  "  but  the  bell  broke  our 
converse,  and  he  laid  me  down  as  tenderly  as — 
O  mother !  if  a  father's  kindness  be  like  his,  I  have 
truly  somewhat  to  regain." 

"Knew  he  aught  of  the  fell  bargain?"  whis- 
pered Christina. 

"  Not  he,  of  course,  save  that  it  was  a  year  of 
Turkish  inroads.  He  will  speak  more  perchance 
to-morrow.  Mother,  not  a  word  to  any  one,  nor 
let  us  betray  our  recognition  unless  it  be  his  pleas- 
ure to  make  himself  known." 

"  Certainly  not,"  said  Christina,  remembering  the 


DO  VB  m  TBB  EAGLE 'S  NE8T.  34I 

danger  that  the  household  might  revenge  FriedeFs 
death  if  they  knew  the  foe  to  be  in  their  power. 
Knowing  as  she  did  that  Ebbo's  admiration  was  apt 
to  be  enthusiastic,  and  might  now  be  rendered  the 
more  fervent  by  fever  and  solitude,  she  was  still  at 
a  loss  to  understand  his  dazzled,  fascinated  state. 

When  Heinz  entered,  bringing  the  castle  key, 
which  was  always  laid  under  the  baron's  pillow, 
Ebbo  made  a  movement  with  his  hand  that  sur- 
prised them  both,  as  if  to  send  it  elsewhere — then 
muttered:  "Xo,  no,  not  till  he  reveals  himself," 
and  asked :    "  Where  sleeps  the  guest  ? " 

"  In  the  grandmother's  room,  which  we  fitted  for 
a  guest-chamber,  little  thinking  who  our  first  would 
be,"  said  his  mother. 

"  Never  fear,  lady ;  we  will  have  a  care  to  him," 
said  Heinz,  somewhat  grimly. 

"Yes,  have  a  care,"  said  Ebbo,  wearily;  "and 
take  care  all  due  honor  is  shown  to  him.  Good- 
night, Heinz." 

"  Gracious  lady,"  said  Heinz,  when  by  a  sign  he 
had  intimated  to  her  his  desire  of  speaking  with  her 
unobserved  by  the  baron,  "  never  fear  ;  I  know  who 
the  fellow  is  as  well  as  you  do.  I  shall  be  at  the 
foot  of  the  stairs,  and  woe  to  whoever  tries  to  step 
up  them  past  me." 

"  There  is  no  reason  to  apprehend  treason,  Heinz, 
yet  to  be  on  our  guard  can  do  no  harm." 

"Nay,  lady,  I  could  look  to  the  gear  for  the 
oubliette  if  you  would  speak  the  word." 

"For  heaven's  sake,  no,  Heinz.    This  man  has 


342  I>0  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST, 

come  hither  trusting  to  our  honor,  and  you  could 
not  do  your  lord  a  greater  wrong,  nor  one  that  he 
could  less  pardon,  than  by  any  attempt  on  our 
guest." 

"Would  that  he  had  never  eaten  our  bread!" 
muttered  Heinz.  "Yipers  be  they  all,  and  who 
knows  what  may  come  next  ? " 

"Watch,  watch,  Heinz;  that  is  all,"  implored 
Christina,  "  and,  above  all,  not  a  word  to  any  one 
else." 

And  Christina  dismissed  the  man-at-arms  gruff 
and  sullen,  and  herself  retired  ill  at  ease  between 
fears  of,  and  for,  the  unwelcome  guest  whose  strange 
powers  of  fascination  had  rendered  her,  in  his  ab- 
sence, doubly  distrustful. 


DOVE  IN  TEE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  343 


CHAPTEE  XXI. 

RITTEK   THEUEDANK. 

The  snow  fell  all  night  without  ceasing,  and  was 
still  falling  on  the  morrow,  when  the  guest  ex- 
plained his  desire  of  paying  a  short  visit  to  the 
young  baron,  and  then  taking  his  departure.  Chris- 
tina would  gladly  have  been  quit  of  him,  but  she 
felt  bound  to  remonstrate,  for  their  mountain 
was  absolutely  impassable  during  a  fall  of  snow, 
above  all  when  accompanied  by  wind,  since  the 
drifts  concealed  fearful  abysses,  and  the  shifting 
masses  insured  destruction  to  the  unwary  wayfarer; 
nay,  natives  themselves  had  perished  between  the 
hamlet  and  the  castle. 

"  Not  the  hardiest  cragsman,  not  my  son  himself," 
she  said,  "  could  venture  on  such  a  morning  to  guide 
you  to " 

"Whither,  gracious  dame?"  asked  Theurdank, 
half  smiling. 

"  Kay,  sir,  I  would  not  utter  what  you  would  not 
make  known." 

"  You  know  me  then  ?  " 

"  Surely,  sir,  for  our  noble  foe,  whose  generous 
trust  in  our  honor  must  win  my  son's  heart." 

"  So  !  "  he  said,  with  a  peculiar  smile,  "  Theurdank 


344  DOVE  IN  THE  HA  OLE 'S  NEST. 

— Dankwart — I  see  ?  May  I  ask  if  your  son  like- 
wise smelled  out  the  Schlangenwald  ? " 

"  Yerily,  sir  count,  my  Ebbo  is  not  easily  de- 
ceived. He  said  our  guest  could  be  but  one  man  in 
all  the  empire." 

Theurdank  smiled  again,  saying,  "  Then,  lady,  you 
shudder  not  at  a  man  whose  kin  and  yours  have 
shed  so  much  of  one  another's  blood  ?  " 

"  Kay,  ghostly  knight,  I  regard  you  as  no  more 
stained  therewith  than  are  my  sons  by  the  deeds  of 
their  grandfather," 

"  If  there  were  more  like  you,  lady,"  returned 
Theurdank,  "  deadly  feuds  would  soon  be  starved 
out.  May  I  to  your  son  ?  I  have  more  to  say  to 
him,  and  I  would  fain  hear  his  views  of  the 
storm." 

Christina  could  not  be  quite  at  ease  with  Theur- 
dank in  her  son's  room,  but  she  had  no  choice,  and 
she  knew  that  Heinz  was  watching  on  the  turret 
stair,  out  of  hearing  indeed,  but  as  ready  to  spring 
as  a  cat  who  sees  her  young  ones  in  the  hand  of  a 
child  that  she  only  half  trusts. 

Ebbo  lay  eagerly  watching  for  his  visitor,  who 
greeted  him  with  the  same  almost  paternal  kindness 
he  had  evinced  the  night  before,  but  consulted  him 
upon  the  way  from  the  castle.  Ebbo  confirmed  his 
mother's  opinion  that  the  path  was  impracticable 
so  long  as  the  snow  fell,  and  the  wind  tossed  it  in 
wild  drifts. 

"  We  have  been  caught  in  snow,"  he  said, 
"  and  hard  work  have  we  had  to  get  home  !    Once 


i)OVE  IN  THE  EA  GLE  '8  NEST,  345 

indeed,  after  a  bear  hunt,  we  fully  thought  the  cas- 
tle stood  before  us,  and  lo  !  it  was  all  a  cruel  snow 
mist  in  that  mocking  shape.  I  was  even  about 
to  climb  our  last  Eagle's  Step,  as  I  thought, 
when  behold,  it  proved  to  be  the  very  brink  of  the 
abyss." 

"  Ah !  these  ravines  are  well-nigh  as  bad  as  those 
of  the  Inn.  I've  known  what  it  was  to  be  caught 
on  the  ledge  of  a  precipice  by  a  sharp  wind,  chang- 
ing its  course,  mark'st  thou,  so  swiftly  that  it  verily 
tore  my  hold  from  the  rock,  and  had  well-nigh 
swept  me  into  a  chasm  of  mighty  depth.  There 
was  nothing  for  it  but  to  make  the  best  spring  I 
might  toward  the  crag  on  the  other  side,  and  grip 
for  my  life  at  my  alpenstock,  which  by  Our  Lady's 
grace  was  firmly  planted,  and  I  held  on  till  I  got 
breath  again,  and  felt  for  my  footing  on  the  ice- 
glazed  rock." 

"  Ah ! "  said  Eberhard  with  a  long  breath,  after 
having  listened  with  a  hunter's  keen  interest  to  this 
hair's-breadth  escape,  "  it  sounds  like  a  gust  of  my 
mountain  air  thus  let  in  on  me." 

"  Truly  it  is  dismal  work  for  a  lusty  hunter  to  lie 
here,'^  said  Theurdank,  ^'but  soon  shalt  thou  take 
thy  crags  again  in  full  vigor,  I  hope.  How  call'st 
thou  the  deep  gray  lonely  pool  under  a  steep  frown- 
ing crag,  sharpened  well-nigh  to  a  spear  point,  that 
I  passed  yester  afternoon  ? " 

"  The  Ptarmigan's  Mere,  the  Eed  Eyrie,"  mur- 
mured Ebbo,  scarcely  able  to  utter  the  words  as  he 
thought  of  Friedel's  delight  in  the  pool,  his  exploit 


346  ^0  VM  W  TEE  iJAQLE 'S  NSJST, 

at  the  eyrie,  and  the  gay  bargain  made  in  the 
streets  of  Uhn,  that  he  should  show  the  scaler  of 
the  dom  steeple  the  way  to  the  eagle's  nest. 

"  I  remember,"  said  his  guest  gravely,  coming  to 
his  side.  "  Ah,  boy !  thy  brother's  flight  has  been 
higher  yet.  Weep  freely ;  fear  me  not.  Do  I  not 
know  what  it  is,  when  those  who  were  over-good 
for  earth  have  found  their  eagle's  wings,  and  left  us 
here  ? " 

Ebbo  gazed  up  through  his  tears  into  the  noble, 
mournful  face  that  was  bent  kindly  over  him.  "  I 
will  not  seek  to  comfort  thee  by  counseling  thee  to 
forget,"  said  Theurdank.  "  I  was  scarce  thine  elder 
when  my  life  was  thus  rent  asunder,  and  to  hoar 
hairs,  nay,  to  the  grave  itself,  will  she  be  my  glory 
and  my  sorrow.  Never  owned  I  brother,  but  I  trow 
ye  two  were  one  in  no  common  sort." 

"  Such  brothers  as  we  saw  at  Ulm  were  little  like 
us,"  returned  Ebbo,  from  the  bottom  of  his  heart. 
"  We  were  knit  together  so  that  all  will  begin 
with  me  as  if  it  were  the  left  hand  remaining  alone 
to  do  it !  I  am  glad  that  my  old  life  may  not  even 
in  shadow  be  renewed  till  after  I  have  gone  in  quest 
of  my  father." 

"  Be  not  over  hasty  in  that  quest,"  said  the  guest, 
"  or  the  infidels  may  chance  to  gain  two  f reiherren 
instead  of  one.     Hast  any  designs  ? " 

Ebbo  explained  that  he  thought  of  making  his 
way  to  Genoa  to  consult  the  merchant  Gian  Bat- 
tista  dei  Battiste,  whose  description  of  the  captive 
German  noble  had  so  strongly  impressed  Friedel. 


BO  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST  347 

Ebbo  knew  the  difference  between  Turks  and  Moors, 
but  Friedel's  impulse  guided  him,  and  he  further 
thought  that  at  Genoa  he  should  learn  theVay  to  deal 
with  either  variety  of  infidel.  Theurdank  thought 
this  a  prudent  course,  since  the  Genoese  had  deal- 
ings both  at  Tripoli  and  Constantinople ;  and,  more- 
over, the  transfer  was  not  impossible,  since  the  two 
different  hordes  of  Moslems  trafficked  among  them- 
selves when  either  had  made  an  unusually  successful 
razzia. 

"  Shame,"  he  broke  out,  "  that  these  eastern 
locusts,  these  ravening  hounds,  should  prey  unmo- 
lested on  the  fairest  lands  of  the  earth,  and  our 
German  nobles  lie  here  like  swine,  grunting  and 
squealing  over  the  plunder  they  grub  up  from  one 
another,  deaf  to  any  summons  from  heaven  or  earth ! 
Did  not  Heaven's  own  voice  speak  in  thunder  this 
last  year,  even  in  J^ovember,  hurling  the  mighty 
thunderbolt  of  Alsace,  an  ell  long,  weighing 
two  hundred  and  fifteen  pounds  ?  Did  I  not  cause 
it  to  be  hung  up  in  the  church  of  Encisheira,  as  a 
witness  and  warning  of  the  plagues  that  hang 
over  us  ?  But  no,  nothing  will  quicken  them  from 
their  sloth  and  drunkenness  till  the  foe  are  at  their 
doors  ;  and,  if  a  man  arise  of  different  mold,  with 
some  heart  for  the  knightly,  the  good,  and  the  true, 
then  they  kill  him  for  me !  But  thou,  Adlerstein, 
this  pious  quest  over,  thou  wilt  return  to  me.  Thou 
hast  head  to  think  and  heart  to  feel  for  the  shame 
and  woe  of  this  misguided  land." 

"  I  trust  so,  my  lord,"  said  Ebbo.     "  Truly,  I  have 


34:8  DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE 'S  NEST. 

suffered  bitterly  for  pursuing  my  own  quarrel  rather 
than  the  crusade." 

"1  meant  not  thee,"  said  Theurdank,  kindly. 
"  Thy  bridge  is  a  benefit  to  me,  as  much  as,  or  more 
than,  ever  it  can  be  to  thee.  Dost  know  Italian  ? 
There  is  something  of  Italy  in  thine  eye." 

"My  mother's  mother  was  Italian,  my  lord; 
but  she  died  so  early  that  her  language  has  not 
descended  to  my  mother  or  myself." 

"  Thou  shouldst  learn  it.  It  will  be  pastime  while 
thou  art  bed-fast,  and  serve  thee  well  in  dealing  with 
the  Moslem.  Morever,  I  may  have  work  for  thee 
in  Welschland.  Books  ?  I  will  send  thee  books. 
There  is  the  whole  chronicle  of  Karl  the  Great,  and 
all  his  Palsgrafen,  by  Pulci  and  Boiardo,  a  brave 
ct)unt  and  gentleman  himself,  governor  of  Keggio 
and  worthy  to  sing  of  deeds  of  arms  ;  so  choice,  too, 
as  to  the  names  of  his  heroes,  that  they  say  he 
caused  his  church  bells  to  be  rung  when  he  had 
found  one  for  Eodomonte,  his  infidel  Hector.  He 
has  shown  up  Eoland  as  a  love-sick  knight,  though, 
which  is  out  of  all  accord  with  Archbishop  Tur- 
pin.     Wilt  have  him  ? " 

"  When  we  were  together,  we  used  to  love  tales 
of  chivalry." 

"  Ah  I  Or  wilt  have  the  stern  old  GhibeUine  Floren- 
tine, who  explored  the  three  realms .  of  the  de- 
parted ?  Deep  lore,  and  well-nigh  unsearchable,  is 
his ;  but  I  love  him  for  the  sake  of  his  Beatrice,  who 
guided  him.     May  we  find  such  guides  in  our  day ! " 

"  I  have  heard  of  him,"  said  Ebbo.     "  If  he  will 


DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  349 

tell  me  where  my  Friedel  walks  in  light,  then,  my 
lord,  I  would  read  him  with  all  my  heart." 

"  Or  wouldst  thou  have  rare  Franciscus  Petrarca  ? 
I  wot  thou  art  too  young  as  yet  for  the  yearnings  of 
his  sonnets,  but  their  voice  is  sweet  to  the  bereft 
heart."  And  he  murmured  over,  in  their  melodious 
Italian  flow,  the  lines  on  Laura's  death : 

"Not  pallid,  but  yet  whiter  than  the  snow 
By  wind  unstirred  that  on  a  hillside  lies 
Rest  seemed  as  on  a  weary  frame  to  grow, 
A  gentle  slumber  pressed  her  lovely  eyes. 

"  Ah  ! "  he  added  aloud  to  himself,  "  it  is  ever  to 
me  as  though  the  poet  had  watched  in  that  chamber 
at  Ghent." 

Such  were  the  discourses  of  that  morning,  now  on 
poetry  and  book  lore ;  now  admiration  of  the  carv- 
ings that  decked  the  room  ;  now  talk  on  grand  archi- 
tectural designs,  or  improvements  in  fire-arms,  or  the 
discussion  of  hunting  adventures.  There  seemed 
nothing  in  art,  life,  or  learning  in  which  the  ver- 
satile mind  of  Theurdank  was  not  at  home,  or  that 
did  not  end  in  some  strange  personal  reminiscence 
of  his  own.  All  was  so  kind,  so  gracious,  and  bril- 
liant, that  at  first  the  interview  Avas  full  of  wondering 
delight  to  Ebbo,  but  latterly  it  became  very  fatigu- 
ing from  the  strain  of  attention,  above  all  toward  a 
guest  who  evidently  knew  that  he  was  known,  while 
not  permitting  such  recognition  to  be  avowed. 
Ebbo  began  to  long  for  an  interruption,  but,  though 
he  could  see  by  the  Kghtened  sky  that  the  weather 


350  DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

had  cleared  up,  it  would  have  been  impossible  to 
have  suggested  to  any  guest  that  the  way  might 
now  probably  be  open,  and  more  especially  to  such 
a  guest  as  this.  Considerate  as  his  visitor  had  been 
the  night  before,  the  pleasure  of  talk  seemed  to  have 
done  away  with  the  remembrance  of  his  host's 
weakness,  till  Ebbo  so  flagged  that  at  last  he  was 
scarcely  alive  to  more  than  the  continued  sound  of 
the  voice,  and  all  the  pain  that  for  awhile  had  been 
in  abeyance  seemed  to  have  mastered  him  ;  but  his 
guest,  half  reading  his  books,  half  discoursing,  seemed 
too  much  immersed  in  his  own  plans,  theories,  and 
adventures  to  mark  the  condition  of  his  auditor. 

Interruption  came  at  last,  however.  There  was  a 
sudden  knock  at  the  door  at  noon,  and  with  scant 
ceremony  Heinz  entered,  followed  by  three  other  of 
the  men-at-arms,  fully  equipped. 

"  Ha !  what  means  this  ?  "  demanded  Ebbo. 

"  Peace,  sir  baron,"  said  Heinz,  advancing  so  as  to 
place  his  large  person  between  Ebbo's  bed  and  the 
strange  hunter.  "  You  know  nothing  of  it.  We  are 
not  going  to  lose  you  as  well  as  your  brother,  and 
we  mean  to  see  how  this  knight  likes  to  serve  as  a 
hostage  instead  of  opening  the  gates  as  a  traitor 
spy.     On  him,  Koppel !  it  is  thy  right." 

"  Hands  off !  at  your  peril,  villains ! "  exclaimed 
Ebbo,  sitting  up,  and  speaking  in  the  steady,  resolute 
voice  that  had  so  early  rendered  him  thoroughly 
their  master,  but  much  perplexed  and  dismayed,  and 
entirely  unassisted  by  Theurdank,  who  stood  looking 
on  with  almost  a  smile,  as  if  diverted  by  his  predica- 
ment. 


DOVE  m  TEE  EAGLE' 8  NE82.  351 

"  By  your  leave,  Herr  Freiherr,"  said  Heinz, 
putting  his  hand  on  his  shoulder,  "  this  is  no  concern 
of  yours.  While  you  cannot  guard  yourself  or  my 
lady,  it  is  our  part  to  do  so.  I  tell  you  his  minions 
are  on  their  way  to  surprise  the  castle." 

Even  as  Heinz  spoke,  Christina  came  panting  into 
the  room,  and  hurrying  to  her  son's  side,  said,  "  sir 
count,  is  this  just,  is  this  honorable,  thus  to  return 
my  son's  welcome,  in  his  helpless  condition  ? " 

"  Mother,  are  you  likewise  distracted  ?  "  exclaimed 
Ebbo.    "  What  is  all  this  madness  ? " 

"  Alas,  my  son,  it  is  no  frenzy  !  There  are  armed 
men  coming  up  the  Eagle's  Stairs  on  the  one  hand 
and  by  the  Gemsbock's  Pass  on  the  other ! " 

"  But  not  a  hair  of  your  head  shall  they  hurt, 
lady,"  said  Heinz.  "This  fellow's  limbs  shall  be 
throAvn  to  them  over  the  battlements.  On,  Koppel ! " 

"  Off,  Koppel ! "  thundered  Ebbo.  "  Would  you 
brand  me  with  shame  forever  ?  Were  he  all  the 
Schlangenwalds  in  one,  he  should  go  as  freely  as  he 
came ;  but  he  is  no  more  Schlangenwald  than  I 
am." 

"  He  has  deceived  3^ou,  my  lord,"  said  Heinz. 
"  My  lady's  own  letter  to  Schlangenwald  was  in  his 
chamber.     'Tis  a  treacherous  disguise." 

"  Fool  that  thou  art ! "  said  Ebbo.  "  I  know  this 
gentleman  well.  I  knew  him  at  Ulm.  Those 
who  meet  him  here  mean  me  no  ill.  Open  the 
gates  and  receive  them  honorably !  Mother, 
mother,  trust  me,  all  is  well.  I  know  what  I  am 
saying." 


352  I>0  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

The  men  looked  one  upon  another.  Christina 
wrung  her  hands,  uncertain  whether  her  son  were 
not  under  some  strange  fatal  deception. 

"  My  lord  has  his  fancies,"  growled  Koppel.  "  I'll 
not  be  balked  of  my  right  of  vengeance  for  his 
scruples.  Will  he  swear  that  this  fellow  is  what  he 
calls  himself  ? " 

"  I  swear,"  said  Ebbo,  slowly,  "  that  he  is  a  true 
loyal  knight,  well  known  to  me." 

"Swear  it  distinctly,  sir  baron,"  said  Heinz. 
"  We  have  all  too  deep  a  debt  of  vengeance  to  let  off 
any  one  who  comes  here  lurking  in  the  interest  of 
our  foe.  Swear  that  this  is  Theurdank,  or  we  send 
his  head  to  greet  his  friends." 

Drops  stood  on  Ebbo's  brow,  and  his  breath 
labored  as  he  felt  his  senses  reeling,  and  his  powers 
of  defense  for  his  guest  failing  him.  Even  should 
the  stranger  confess  his  name,  the  people  of  the 
castle  might  not  believe  him ;  and  here  he  stood  like 
one  indifferent,  evidently  measuring  how  far  his 
young  host  would  go  in  his  cause. 

"  I  cannot  swear  that  his  real  name  is  Theur- 
dank," said  Ebbo,  rallying  his  forces,  "  but  this  I 
swear,  that  he  is  neither  friend  nor  fosterer  of 
Schlangenwald,  that  I  know  him,  and  I  had  rather 
die  than  that  the  slightest  indignity  were  offered 
him."  Here,  and  with  a  great  effort  that  terribly 
wrenched  his  wounded  leg,  he  reached  past  Heinz, 
and  grasped  his  guest's  hand,  pulling  him  as  near  as 
he  could. 

"  Sir,"  he  said,  "  if  they  try  to  lay  hands  on  you 
strike  my  death-blow." 


DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  353 

A  bugle-horn  was  wound  outside.  The  men  stood 
daunted — Christina  in  extreme  terror  for  her  son, 
who  lay  gasping,  breathless,  but  still  clutching  the 
stranger's  hand,  and  with  eyes  of  fire  glaring  on  the 
mutinous  warriors.  Another  bugle-blast  !  Heinz 
was  almost  in  the  act  of  grappling  with  the  silent 
foe,  and  Koppel  cried  as  he  raised  his  halberd,  "  E'ow 
or  never ! "  but  paused. 

"  Never,  so  please  you,"  said  the  strange  guest. 
"  What  if  your  young  lord  could  not  forswear  him- 
self that  my  name  is  Theurdank !  Are  you  foes  to 
all  the  world  save  Theurdank  ? " 

"  JSTo  masking,"  said  Heinz,  sternly.  "  Tell  your 
true  name  as  an  honest  man,  and  we  will  judge 
whether  you  be  friend  or  foe." 

"  My  name  is  a  mouthful,  as  your  master  knows," 
said  the  guest,  slowly,  looking  with  strangely 
amused  eyes  on  the  confused  lanzknechts,  who 
were  trying  to  devour  their  rage.  "  I  was  baptized 
Maximilianus ;  Archduke  of  Austria,  by  birth ; 
by  choice  of  the  Germans,  king  of  the  Komans." 

"The  kaiser!" 

Christina  dropped  on  her  knee  ;  the  men-at-arms 
tumbled  backward  ;  Ebbo  pressed  the  hand  he  held 
to  his  lips,  and  fainted  away.  The  bugle  sounded 
for  the  third  time. 


354  I>0  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 


CHAPTEE  XXII. 

PEACE. 

Slowly  and  painfully  did  Ebbo  recover  from  his 
sjwoon,  feeling  as  if  the  means  of  reviving  were 
rending  him  away  from  his  brother.  He  was  so 
completely  spent  that  he  was  satisfied  with  a  mere 
a-ssurance  that  nothing  was  amiss,  and  presently 
dropped  into  a  profound  slumber,  whence  he  awoke 
to  find  it  still  broad  daylight,  and  his  mother  sit- 
ting by  the  side  of  his  bed,  all  looking  so  much  as  it 
had  done  for  the  last  six  weeks,  that  his  first  inquiry 
was  if  all  that  had  happened  had  been  but  a  strange 
deam.  His  mother  would  scarcely  answer  till  she 
had  satisfied  herself  that  his  eye  was  clear,  his  voice 
steady,  his  hand  cool,  and  that,  as  she  said,  "  That 
kaiser  had  done  him  no  harm." 

"  Ah,  then  it  was  true !  "Where  is  he  ?  Gone  ? " 
cried  Ebbo,  eagerly. 

"  1^0,  in  the  hall  below,  busy  with  letters  they 
have  brought  him.  Lie  still,  my  boy  ;  he  has  done 
thee  quite  enough  damage  for  one  day." 

"  But,  mother,  what  are  you  saying  ?  Something 
disloyal,  was  it  not  ? " 

"  Well,  Ebbo,  I  was  very  angry  that  he  should 
have  half  killed  you  when  he  could  so  easily  have 


DOVE  IN  THE  EA GLE 'S  NEST,  855 

spoken  one  word.  Heaven  forgive  me  if  I  did 
wrong,  but  I  could  not  help  it." 

"Did  he  forgive  you,  mother?"  said  Ebbo, 
anxiously. 

"  He — oh,  yes.  To  do  him  justice  he  was  greatly 
concerned  ;  devised  ways  of  restoring  thee,  and  now 
has  promised  not  to  come  near  thee  again  without 
my  leave,"  said  the  mother,  quite  as  persuaded  of 
her  own  rightful  sway  in  her  son's  sick  chamber  as 
ever  Kunigunde  had  been  of  her  dominion  over  the 
castle. 

"  And  is  he  displeased  with  me  ?  Those  cowardly 
vindictive  rascals,  to  fall  on  him,  and  set  me  at 
nought !  Before  him,  too ! "  exclaimed  Ebbo, 
bitterly. 

"  Kay,  Ebbo,  he  thought  thy  part  most  gallant. 
I  heard  him  say  so,  not  only  to  me,  but  below 
stairs — both  wise  and  true.  Thou  didst  know  him 
then?" 

"  From  the  first  glance  of  his  princely  eye — ^the 
first  of  his  keen  smiles.  I  had  seen  him  disguised 
before.  I  thought  you  knew  him  too,  mother ;  I 
never  guessed  that  your  mind  was  r\inning  on 
Schlangenwald  when  we  talked  at  cross  purposes 
last  night." 

"  Would  that  I  had ;  but  though  I  breathed  no 
word  openly,  I  encouraged  Heinz's  precautions. 
My  boy,  I  could  not  help  it;  my  heart  would 
tremble  for  my  only  one,  and  I  saw  he  could  not  be 
what  he  seemed." 

"  And  what  doth  he  here  ?  Who  were  the  men, 
who  were  advancing  ? " 


356  DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'8  NEST, 

"They  were  the  followers  he  had  left  at  St. 
Euprecht's,  and  likewise  Master  Schleiermacher  and 
Sir  Kasimir  of  Wildschloss." 

"Ha!" 

"  What— he  had  not  told  thee  ? " 

"  ISTo.  He  knew  that  I  knew  him,  was  at  no  pains 
to  disguise  himself,  yet  evidently  meant  me  to 
treat  him  as  a  private  knight.  But  what  brought 
Wildschloss  here  ? " 

"  It  seems,"  said  Christina,  "  that,  on  the  return 
from  Carinthia,  the  kaiser  expressed  his  intention 
of  slipping  away  from  his  army  in  his  own  strange 
fashion,  and  himself  inquiring  into  the  matter  of  the 
ford.  So  he  took  with  him  his  own  personal  fol- 
lowers, the  new  Graf  von  Schlangenwald,  Herr 
Kasimir,  and  Master  Schleiermacher.  The  others 
he  sent  to  Schlangenwald ;  he  himself  lodged  at  St. 
Euprecht's,  appointing  that  Sir  Kasimir  should 
meet  him  there  this  morning.  From  the  convent  he 
started  on  a  chamois  hunt,  and  made  his  way 
hither ;  but,  when  the  snow  came  on,  and  he 
returned  not,  his  followers  became  uneasy,  and 
came  in  search  of  him." 

"  Ah  ! "  said  Ebbo,  "  he  meant  to  intercede  for 
Wildschloss — it  might  be  he  would  have  tried  his 
power.  No,  for  that  he  is  too  generous.  How 
looked  Wildschloss,  mother  ? " 

"  How  could  I  tell  how  any  one  looked  save  thee, 
my  poor  wan  boy  ?  Thou  art  paler  than  ever !  I 
cannot  have  any  king  or  kaiser  of  them  all  come  to 
trouble  thee." 


DO  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE 'S  NEST.  357 

"  ^ay,  motherling,  there  is  much  more  trouble 
and  unrest  to  me  in  not  knowing  how  my  king  will 
treat  us  after  such  a  requital !  Prithee  let  him  know 
that  I  am  at  his  service." 

And,  after  having  fed  and  refreshed  her  patient, 
the  gentle  potentate  of  his  chamber  consented  to 
intimate  her  consent  to  admit  the  invader.  But  not 
till  after  delay  enough  to  fret  the  impatient  nerves 
of  illness  did  Maximilian  appear,  handing  her  in, 
and  saying,  in  the  cheery  voice  that  was  one  of  his 
chief  fascinations : 

"Yea,  truly,  fair  dame,  I  know  thou  would 
sooner  trust  Schlangenwald  himseK  than  me  alone 
with  thy  charge.     How  goes  it,  my  true  knight  ? " 

"  Well,  right  well,  my  liege,"  said  Ebbo,  "  save 
for  my  shame  and  grief." 

"  Thou  art  the  last  to  be  ashamed  for  that,"  said 
the  good-  natured  prince.  "  Have  I  never  seen  my 
faithful  vassals  more  bent*  on  their  own  feuds  than 
on  my  word  ?  I  who  reign  over  a  set  of  kings,  who 
brook  no  will  but  their  own." 

"  And  may  we  ask  your  pardon,"  said  Ebbo,  "  not 
only  for  ourselves,  but  for  the  misguided  men-at- 
arms  ? " 

"  What !  the  grewsome  giant  that  was  prepared 
with  the  axe,  and  the  honest  lad  that  wanted  to  do 
his  duty  by  his  father  ?  I  honor  that  lad,  freiherr  ; 
I  would  enroll  him  in  my  guard,  but  that  probably 
he  is  better  off  here  than  with  Massimiliano  pochi 
danari^  as  the  Italians  call  me.  But  what  I  came 
hither  to  say  was  this,"  and  he  spoke  gravely :  thou 


358  DO  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE' 8  NEST. 

art  sincere  in  desiring  reconciliation  with  the  house 
of  Schlangenwald  ? " 

"  With  all  my  heart,"  said  Ebbo,  "  do  I  loathe  the 
miserable  debt  of  blood  for  blood !  " 

"  And,"  said  Maximilian,  "  Graf  Dankwart  is  of 
like  mind.  Bred  from  pagedom  in  his  Prussian 
commandery,  he  has  never  been  exposed  to  the 
irritations  that  have  fed  the  spirit  of  strife,  and  he 
will  be  thankful  to  lay  it  aside.  The  question  next 
is  how  to  solemnize  this  reconciliation,  ere  your  re- 
tainers on  one  side  or  the  other  do  something  to  set 
you  by  the  ears  together  again,  which,  judging  by 
this  morning's  work,  is  not  improbable." 

"  Alas !  no,"  said  Ebbo,  "  while  I  am  laid  by." 

"  Had  you  both  been  in  our  camp,  you  should 
have  sworn  friendship  in  my  chapel.  Now  must 
Dankwart  come  hither  to  thee,  as  I  trow  he  had  best 
do,  while  I  am  here  to  keep  the  peace.  See,  friend 
Ebbo,  we  will  have  him  here  to-morrow  ;  thy  chap- 
lain shall  deck  the  altar  here,  the  Father  Abbot 
shall  say  mass,  and  ye  shall  swear  peace  and  broth- 
erhood before  me.  And,"  he  added,  taking  Ebbo's 
hand,  "  I  shall  know  how  to  trust  thine  oaths  as  of  one 
who  sets  the  fear  of  God  above  that  of  his  king." 

This  was  truly  the  only  chance  of  impressing  on 
the  wild  vassals  of  the  two  houses  an  obligation 
that  perhaps  might  override  their  ancient  hatred; 
and  the  baron  and  his  mother  gladly  submitted  to 
the  arrangement.  Maximilian  withdrew  to  give 
directions  for  summoning  the  persons  required  and 
Christina  was  soon  obliged  to  leave  her  son,  while 
she  provided  for  her  influx  of  guests. 


DOVE  m  THE  EAGLE' 8  NEST,  359 

Ebbo  was  alone  till  nearly  the  end  of  the  supper 
below  stairs.  He  had  been  dozing,  when  a  cautions 
tread  came  up  the  turret  steps,  and  he  started,  and 
called  out,  "  Who  goes  there  ?    I  am  not  asleep." 

"  It  is  your  kinsman,  freiherr,"  said  a  well-known 
voice ;  "  1  come  by  your  mother's  leave." 

"  Welcome,  sir  cousin,"  said  Ebbo,  holding  out 
his  hand.     "  You  come  to  find  everything  changed." 

"  I  have  knelt  in  the  chapel,"  said  Wildschloss, 
gravely. 

"  And  he  loved  you  better  than  I !"  said  Ebbo. 

"  Your  jealousy  of  me  was  a  providential  thing, 
for  which  all  may  be  thankful,"  said  Wildschloss 
gravely  ;  "  yet  it  is  no  small  thing  to  lose  the  hope 
of  so  many  years  ?  However,  young  baron,  I  have 
grave  matter  for  your  consideration.  Know  you 
the  service  on  which  I  am  to  be  sent  ?  The  kaiser 
deems  that  the  Armenians  or  some  of  the  Christian 
nations  on  the  skirts  of  the  Ottoman  empire  might 
be  made  our  allies,  and  attack  the  Turk  in  his  rear. 
I  am  chosen  as  his  envoy,  and  shall  sail  so  soon  as  I 
can  make  my  way  to  Venice.  I  only  knew  of  the 
appointment  since  I  came  hither,  he  having  been 
led  thereto  by  letters  brought  him  this  day ;  and 
mayhap  by  the  downfall  of  my  hopes.  He  was 
peremptory,  as  his  mood  is,  and  seemed  to  think  it 
no  small  favor,"  added  Wildschloss,  with  some 
annoyance.  "And  meantime,  what  of  my  poor 
child  ?  There  she  is  in  the  cloister  at  Ulm,  but  an 
inheritance  is  a  very  mill-stone  round  the  neck  of 
an  orphan  maid.     That  insolent  fellow,  Lassla  von 


360  I>0 VE  IN  TEE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

Trautbach,  hath  already  demanded  to  espouse  the 
poor  babe;  he — a  blood-stained,  dicing,  drunken 
rover,  with  whom  I  would  not  trust  a  dog  that  I 
loved  !  Yet  my  death  would  place  her  at  the  dis- 
posal of  his  father,  who  would  give  her  at  once  to 
him.  Nay,  even  his  aunt,  the  abbess,  will  believe 
nothing  against  him,  and  hath  even  striven  with 
me  to  have  her  betrothed  at  once.  On  the  barest 
rumor  of  my  death  will  they  wed  the  poor  little 
thing,  and  then  woe  to  her,  and  woe  to  my 
vassals !" 

"  The  king,"  suggested  Ebbo.  "  Surely  she  might 
be  made  his  ward." 

"Young  man,"  said  Sir  Kasimir,  bending  over 
him,  and  speaking  in  an  undertone,  "  he  may  well 
have  won  your  heart.  As  friend,  when  one  is  at 
his  side,  none  can  be  so  winning,  or  so  sincere  as  he ; 
but  with  all  his  brilliant  gifts,  he  says  truly  of  him- 
self that  he  is  a  mere  reckless  huntsman.  To-day, 
while  I  am  with  him,  he  would  give  me  half  Austria, 
or  fight  single-handed  in  my  cause  or  Thekla's. 
Next  month,  when  I  am  out  of  sight,  comes  Traut- 
bach, just  when  his  head  is  full  of  keeping  the 
French  out  of  Italy,  or  reforming  the  church,  or 
beating  the  Turk,  or  parceling  the  empire  into 
circles,  or,  maybe,  of  a  new  touch-hole  for  a  cannon 
— nay,  of  a  flower-garden,  or  of  walking  into  a  lion's 
den.  He  just  says,  '  Yea,  well,'  to  be  rid  of  the  im- 
portunity, and  all  is  over  with  my  poor  little 
maiden.  Hare-brained  and  bewildered  with  schemes 
has  he  been  as  Eomish  king — how  will  it  be  with 


DOVE  m  TBE  EA aiE '8  ITEST.  361 

him  as  kaiser  ?  It  is  but  of  his  wonted  madness 
that  he  is  here  at  all,  when  his  Austrian  states 
must  be  all  astray  for  want  of  him.  No,  no;  I 
would  rather  make  a  weathercock  guardian  to  my 
daughter.  You  yourself  are  the  only  guard  to 
whom  I  can  safely  intrust  her. 

"  My  sword   as  knight  and  kinsman "   began 

Ebbo. 

"  No,  no ;  'tis  no  matter  of  errant  knight  or  dis- 
tressed damsel.  That  is  King  Max's  own  line!" 
said  Wildschloss,  with  a  little  of  the  irony  that  used 
to  nettle  Ebbo.  "  There  is  only  one  way  in  which 
you  can  save  her,  and  that  is  as  her  husband." 

Ebbo  started,  as  well  he  might,  but  Sir  Kasimir 
laid  his  hand  on  him  with  a  gesture  that  bade  him 
listen  ere  he  spoke. 

"  My  first  wish  for  my  child,"  he  said,  "  was  to 
see  her  brought  up  by  that  peerless  lady  below 
stairs.  The  saints — in  pity  to  one  so  like  them- 
selves— spared  her  the  distress  our  union  would 
have  brought  her.  Now,  it  would  be  vain  to  place 
my  little  Thekla  in  her  care,  for  Trautbach  would 
easily  feign  my  death  and  claim  his  niece,  nor  are 
you  of  age  to  be  made  her  guardian  as  head  of  our 
house.  But,  if  this  marriage  rite  were  solemnized, 
then  would  her  person  and  lands  alike  be  yours,  and 
I  could  leave  her  Avith  an  easy  heart." 

"  But,"  said  the  confused,  surprised  Ebbo,  "  what 
can  I  do?  They  say  I  shall  not  walk  for  many 
weeks  to  come.  And  even  if  I  could,  I  am  so 
young — I  have  so  blundered  in  my  dealings  with 


362^  DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

my  own  mountaineers,  and  with  this  fatal  bridge- 
how  should  I  manage  such  estates  as  yours  ?  Some 
better " 

"  Look  you,  Ebbo,"  said  "Wildschloss,  "  you  have 
erred — ^you  have  been  hasty ;  but  tell  me  where  to 
find  another  youth,  whose  strongest  purpose  was  as 
wise  as  your  errors,  or  who  cared  for  others'  good 
more  than  for  his  own  violence  and  vainglory? 
Brief  as  your  time  has  been,  one  knows  when 
one  is  on  your  bounds  by  the  aspect  of  your  serfs, 
the  soundness  of  their  dwellings,  the  prosperity  of 
their  crops  and  cattle ;  above  all,  by  their  face  and 
tone  if  one  asks  for  their  lord." 

"  Ah !  it  was  Friedel  they  loved.  They  scarce 
knew  me  from  Friedel." 

"  Such  as  you  are,  with  all  the  blunders  you  have 
made  and  will  make,  you  are  the  only  youth  I 
know  to  whom  I  could  intrust  my  child  or  my 
lands.  The  old  Wildschloss  castle  is  a  male  fief, 
and  would  return  to  you,  but  there  are  domains 
since  granted  that  will  cause  intolerable  trouble 
and  strife,  unless  you  and  my  poor  little  heiress  are 
united.     As  for  age,  you  are " 

"  Eighteen  next  Easter." 

"  Then  there  are  scarce  eleven  years  between  you. 
You  will  find  the  Httle  one  a  blooming  bride  when 
your  first  deeds  in  arms  have  been  fought  out." 

"  And  if  my  mother  trains  her  up,"  said  Ebbo, 
thoughtfully,  "  she  will  be  all  the  better  daughter 
to  her.  But,  sir  cousin,  you  know  I,  too,  must  be 
going.  So  soon  as  I  can  brook  the  saddle,  I  must 
seek  out  and  ransom  my  father." 


DO  VE  m  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  363 

"  That  is  like  to  be  a  far  shorter  and  safer  journey 
than  mine.  The  Genoese  and  Venetians  under- 
stand traffic  with  the  infidels  for  their  captives,  and 
only  by  your  own  fault  could  you  get  into  danger. 
Even  at  the  worst,  should  mishap  befall  you,  you 
could  so  order  matters  as  to  leave  your  girl-widow 
in  your  mother's  charge." 

"  Then,"  added  Ebbo,  "  she  would  still  have  one 
left  to  love  and  cherish  her.  Sir  Kasimir,  it  is 
well ;  though,  if  you  knew  me  without  my  Friedel, 
you  would  repent  of  your  bargain." 

"  Thanks  from  my  heart,"  said  Wildschloss,  "  but 
you  need  not  be  concerned.  You  have  never  been 
over-friendly  with  me  even  with  Friedel  at  your 
side.  But  to  business,  my  son.  You  will  endure 
that  title  from  me  now  ?    My  time  is  short." 

"  What  would  you  have  me  do  ?  Shall  I  send  the 
little  one  a  betrothal  ring,  and  ride  to  Ulm  to  wed 
and  fetch  her  home  in  spring  ? " 

"  That  may  hardly  serve.  These  kinsmen  would 
have  seized  on  her  and  the  castle  long  ere  that  time. 
The  only  safety  is  the  making  wedlock  as  fast  as 
it  can  be  made  with  a  child  of  such  tender  years. 
Mine  is  the  only  power  that  can  make  the  abbess 
give  her  up,  and  therefore  will  I  ride  this  moonlight 
night  to  Ulm,  bring  the  little  one  back  with  me  by 
the  time  the  reconciliation  be  concluded,  and  then 
shall  ye  be  wed  by  the  Abbot  of  St.  Ruprecht's, 
with  the  kaiser  for  a  witness,  and  thus  will  the  knot 
be  too  strong  for  the  Trautbachs  to  untie." 

Ebbo  looked  disconcerted,  and  gasped,  as  if  this 


364  DO  VE  m  TEE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

were  over-quick  work. — "To-morrow!"  he  said. 
"Knows  my  mother? " 

"  I  go  to  speak  with  her  at  once.  The  kaiser's 
consent  I  have,  as  he  says,  *  If  we  have  one  vassel 
who  has  common  sense  and  honesty,  let  us  make 
the  most  of  him.'  Ah  !  my  son,  I  shall  return  to 
see  you  his  counsellor  and  friend." 

Those  days  had  no  delicacies  as  to  the  lady's  side 
taking  the  initiative  :  and,  in  effect,  the  wealth  and 
power  of  Wildschloss  so  much  exceeded  those  of 
the  elder  branch  that  it  would  have  been  presump- 
tuous on  Eberhard's  part  to  have  made  the  proposal. 
>^  It  was  more  a  treaty  than  an  affair  of  hearts,  and 
Sir  Kasimir  had  not  even  gone  through  the  form  of 
inquiring  if  Ebbo  were  fancy-free.  It  was  true,  in- 
deed, that  he  was  still  a  boy,  with  no  passion  for 
any  one  but  his  mother ;  but  had  he  even  formed  a 
dream  of  a  lady  love,  it  would  scarcely  have  been 
y  deemed  a  rational  objection.  The  days  of  romance 
were  no  days  of  romance  in  marriage. 

Yet  Christina,  wedded  herself  for  pure  love,  felt 
this  obstacle  strongly.  The  scheme  was  propounded 
to  her  over  the  hall  fire  by  no  less  a  person  than 
Maximilian  himself,  and  he,  whose  perceptions  were 
extremely  keen  when  he  was  not  too  much  en- 
grossed to  use  them,  observed  her  reluctance  through 
all  her  timid  deference,  and  probed  her  reasons  so 
successfully  that  she  owned  at  last  that,  though  it 
might  sound  like  folly,  she  could  scarce  endure  to 
see  her  son  so  bind  himself  that  the  romance  of  his 
Hfe  could  hardly  be  innocent. 


DO  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE 'S  NEST.  365 

"  Nay,  lady,"  was  the  answer,  in  a  tone  of  deep 
feeling.  "Neither  lands  nor  honors  can  weigh 
down  the  upspringing  of  true  love ; "  and  he  bowed 
his  head  between  his  hands. 

Yerily,  all  the  low  countries  had  not  impeded  the 
true-hearted  affection  of  Maximilian  and  Mary ;  and, 
though  since  her  death  his  want  of  seK-restraint 
had  marred  his  personal  character  and  morals,  and 
though  he  was  now  on  the  point  of  concluding  a 
most  loveless  political  marriage,  yet  still  Mary  Avas 
— as  he  shows  her  as  the  Beatrice  of  both  his  strange 
autobiographical  allegories — the  guiding  star  of  his 
fitful  life;  and  in  heart  his  fidelity  was  so  un- 
broken that,  when  after  a  long  pause  he  again 
looked  up  to  Christina,  he  spoke  as  well  understand- 
ing her  feelings. 

"I  know  what  you  would  say,  lady;  your  son  hardly 
knows  as  yet  how  much  is  asked  of  him,  and  the 
little  maid,  to  whom  he  vows  his  heart,  is  over- 
young  to  secure  it.  But,  lady,  I  have  often  observed 
that  men,  whose  family  affections  are  as  deep  and 
fervent  as  your  son's  are  for  you  and  his  brother, 
seldom  have  wandering  passions,  but  that  their  love 
flows  deep  and  steady  in  the  channels  prepared  for 
it.  Let  your  young  freiherr  regard  this  damsel  as 
his  own,  and  you  will  see  he  will  love  her  as  such." 

"  I  trust  so,  my  liege." 

"  Moreover,  if  she  turn  out  like  the  spiteful  Traut- 
bach  folk,"  said  Maximilian,  rather  wickedly, 
"  plenty  of  holes  can  be  picked  in  a  baby- wedding. 
No  fear  of  its  over-firmness.    I  never  saw  one  come 


366  DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE' 8  NEST. 

to  good;  only  he  must  keep  firm  hold  on  the 
lands." 

This  was  not  easy  to  answer,  coming  from  a 
prince  who  had  no  small  experience  in  premature 
bridals  coming  to  nothing,  and  Christina  felt  that 
the  matter  was  taken  out  of  her  hands,  and  that  she 
had  no  more  to  do  but  to  enjoy  the  warm-hearted 
kaiser's  praises  of  her  son. 

In  fact,  the  general  run  of  nobles  were  then  so 
boorish  and  violent  compared  with  the  citizens, 
that  a  nobleman  who  possessed  intellect,  loyalty, 
and  conscience  was  so  valuable  to  the  sovereign  that 
Maximilian  was  rejoiced  to  do  all  that  either  could 
bind  him  to  his  service  or  increase  his  power.  The 
true  history  of  this  expedition  on  the  emperor's  part 
was  this — that  he  had  consulted  Kasimir  upon  the 
question  of  the  Debatable  Ford  and  the  feud  of  Ad- 
lerstein  and  Schlangenwald,  asking  further  how  his 
friend  had  sped  in  the  wooing  of  the  fair  widow,  to 
which  he  remembered  having  given  his  consent  at 
Uhn. 

Wildschloss  replied  that,  though  backed  up  by  her 
kindred  at  Ulm,  he  had  made  no  progress  in  conse- 
quence of  the  determined  opposition  of  her  two 
sons,  and  he  had  therefore  resolved  to  wait  awhile, 
and  let  her  and  the  young  baron  feel  their  inability 
to  extricate  themselves  from  the  difficulties  that 
were  sure  to  beset  them,  without  his  authority,  in- 
fluence, and  experience — fully  believing  that  some 
predicament  might  arise  that  would  bring  the  mother 
to  terras,  if  not  the  sons. 


DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  367 

This  disaster  did  seem  to  have  fallen  out,  and  he 
had  meant  at  once  to  offer  himself  to  the  lady  as 
her  supporter  and  advocate,  able  to  bring  about  all 
her  son  could  desire  ;  though  he  owned  that  his 
hopes  would  have  been  higher  if  the  survivor  had 
been  the  gentle,  friendly  Friedmund,  rather  than  the 
hot  and  imperious  Eberhard,  who  he  knew  must  be 
brought  very  low  ere  his  objections  would  be  with- 
drawn. • 

The  touch  of  romance  had  quite  fascinated  Maxi- 
milian. He  would  see  the  lady  and  her  son.  He 
would  make  all  things  easy  by  the  personal  influ- 
ence that  he  so  well  knew  how  to  exert,  backed  by 
his  imperial  authority ;  and  both  should  see  cause 
to  be  thankful  to  purchase  consent  to  the  bridge- 
building,  and  pardon  for  the  fray,  by  the  marriage 
between  the  widow  and  Sir  Kasimir. 

But  the  Last  of  the  Knights  was  a  gentleman,  and 
the  meek  dignity  of  his  hostess  had  hindered  him 
from  pressing  on  her  any  distasteful  subject  until 
her  son's  explanation  of  the  uncertainty  of  her  hus- 
band's death  had  precluded  all  mention  of  this  in- 
tention. Besides,  Maximilian  was  himself  greatly 
charmed  by  Ebbo's  own  qualities — partly  perhaps 
as  an  intelligent  auditor,  but  also  by  his  good  sense, 
high  spirit,  and,  above  all,  by  the  ready  and  delicate 
tact  that  had  both  penetrated  and  respected  the 
disguise.  Moreover,  Maximilian,  though  a  faulty, 
was  a  devout  man,  and  could  appreciate  the  youth's 
unswerving  truth,  under  circumstances,  that  did,  in 
effect,  imperil  him  more  really  than  his  guest.     In 


368  •  I>0  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE '8  NEST. 

this  mood,  Maximilian  felt  disposed  to  be  rid  to  the 
very  utmost  of  poor  Sir  Kasimir's  unlucky  attach- 
ment to  a  wedded  lady ;  and  receiving  letters  sug- 
gestive of  the  eastern  mission,  instantly  decided 
that  it  would  only  be  doing  as  he  would  be  done  by 
instantly  to  order  the  disappointed  suitor  off  to  the 
utmost  parts  of  the  earth,  where  he  would  much 
have  liked  to  go  himself,  save  for  the  unlucky  clog 
of  all  the  realm  of  Germany.  That  Sir  Kasimir 
had  any  tie  to  home  he  had  for  the  moment  en- 
tirely forgotten ;  and,  had  he  remembered  it,  the 
knight  was  so  eminently  fitted  to  fulfill  his  purpose, 
that  it  could  hardly  have  been  regarded.  But,  when 
Wildschloss  himself  devised  his  little  heiress'  union 
with  the  head  of  the  direct  line,  it  was  a  most  ac- 
ceptable proposal  to  the  emperor,  who  set  himself  to 
forward  it  at  once,  out  of  policy,  and  as  compensa- 
tion to  all  parties. 

And  so  Christina's  gentle  remonstrance  was 
passed  by.  Yet,  with  all  her  sense  of  the  venture, 
it  was  thankworthy  to  look  back  on  the  trembling 
anxiety  with  which  she  had  watched  her  boy's 
childhood,  amid  all  his  temptations  and  perils,  and 
compare  her  fears  with  his  present  position :  his  al- 
liance courted,  his  wisdom  honored,  the  child  of  the 
proud,  contemned  outlaw  received  as  the  favorite  of 
the  emperor,  and  the  valued  ally  of  her  own  honored 
burgher  world.  Yet  he  was  still  a  mere  lad.  How 
would  it  be  for  the  future  ?  Would  he  be  unspoiled? 
Yes,  even  as  she  already  viewed  one  of  her  twins  as 
the  star  on  high — nay,  when  kneeling  in  the  chapel 


DO  VE  IN  THE  EAGLETS  NEST.  369 

her  dazzling  tears  made  stars  of  the  glint  of  the  light 
reflected  in  his  bright  helmet — might  she  not  trust 
that  the  other  would  yet  run  his  course  to  and  fro, 
as  the  spark  in  the  stubble  1 


370  I>0  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST, 


CHAPTEE  XXm. 

THE   ALTAR   OF   PEACE. 

1^0  ONE  could  bear  to  waken  the  young  baron  till 
the  sun  had  risen  high  enough  to  fall  on  his  face  and 
unclose  his  eyes. 

"  Mother "  (ever  his  first  word),  "  you  have  let 
me  sleep  too  long." 

"  Thou  didst  wake  too  long,  I  fear  me." 
"  I   hoped  you  knew  it  not.     Yes,   my  wound 
throbbed  sore,  and  the  Avonders  of  the  day  whirled 
round  my  brain  like  the  wild  huntsman's  chase." 
"  And,  cruel  boy,  thou  didst  not  call  to  me." 
"  What,  with  such  a  yesterday,  and  such  a  morrow 
for  you  ?  while,   chance  what  may,   I  can  but  lie 
still.     I  thought  I  must    call,  if  I  were  still  so 
wretched,  when  the  last  moonbeam  faded  ;  but,  be 
hold,  sleep  came,  and  therewith  my  Friedel  sat  by 
me,  and  has  sung  songs  of  peace  ever  since." 
"  And  hath  lulled  thee  to  content,  dear  son  ? ' 
"  Content  as  the  echo  of  his  voice  and  the  fulfill- 
ment of  his  hope  can  make  me,"  said  Ebbo. 

And  so  Christina  made  her  son  ready  for  the 
da3^'s  solemnities,  arraying  him  in  a  fine  holland 
shirt  with  exquisite  broidery  of  her  own  on  the 
collar  and  sleeves,  and  carefully  disposing  his  long 


DO  VE  m  THE  EAGLE '8  NEST.  371 

glossy,  dark  brown  hair  so  as  to  fall  on  his  shoulders 
as  he  lay  propped  up  by  cushions.  She  would  have 
thrown  his  crimson  mantle  round  him,  but  he  re- 
pelled it  indignantly.  "  Gay  braveries  for  me, 
while  my  Friedel  is  not  yet  in  his  resting-place  ? 
Here — the  black  velvet  cloak." 

"Alas,  Ebbo  !  it  makes  thee  look  more  of  a  corpse 
than  a  bridegroom.  Thou  wilt  scare  thy  poor  little 
spouse.  Ah !  it  was  not  thus  I  had  fancied  myself 
decking  thee  for  thy  wedding." 

"Poor  little  one!"  said  Ebbo.  "If,  as  yoar 
uncle  says,  mourning  is  the  seed  of  joy,  this  bridal 
should  prove  a  gladsome  one !  But  let  her  prov^ .  a 
loving  child  to  you,  and  honor  my  Friedel's  memory, 
then  shall  I  love  her  well.  Do  not  fear,  motherling ; 
with  the  roots  of  hatred  and  jealousy  taken  out  of 
the  heart,  even  sorrow  is  such  peace  that  it  is  almost 

joy-" 

It  was  over  early  for  pain  and  sorrow  to  have 
taught  that  lesson,  thought  the  mother,  as  with 
tender  tears  she  gave  place  to  the  priest,  who  was 
to  begin  the  solemnities  of  the  day  by  shriving  the 
young  baron.  It  was  Father  Norbert,  who  had  in 
this  very  chamber  baptized  the  brothers,  while  their 
grandmother  was  plotting  the  destruction  of  their 
godfather,  even  while  he  gave  Friedmund  his  name 
of  peace, — Father  Norbert  who  had  from  the  very 
first  encouraged  the  drooping,  hearts  tricken,  solitary 
Christina  not  to  be  overcome  of  evil,  but  to  over- 
come evil  with  good. 

A  temporary  altar  was  erected   between  the  win- 


372  BO  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE 'S  NEST. 

doTVS,  and  hung  with  the  silk  and  embroidery  be- 
longing to  that, in  the  chapel :  a  crucifix  was  placed 
on  it,  with  the  shrine  of  the  stone  of  Mcsea,  one  or 
two  other  relics  brought  from  St.  Ruprecht's  cloister, 
and  a  beautiful  mother-of-pearl  and  gold  pyx  also 
from  the  abbey,  containing  the  host.  These  were 
arranged  by  the  chaplain,  Father  Norbert,  and  three 
of  his  brethren  from  the  abbey.  And  then  the 
Father  Abbot,  a  kindly,  dignified  old  man,  who  had 
long  been  on  friendly  terms  with  the  young  baron, 
entered ;  and  after  a  few  kind  though  serious  words 
to  him,  assumed  a  gorgeous  cope  stiff  with  gold 
embroidery,  and,  standing  by  the  altar,  awaited  the 
arrival  of  the  other  assistants  at  the  ceremony. 

The  slender,  youthful-looking,  pensive  lady  of  the 
castle,  in  her  wonted  mourning  dress,  was  courte- 
ously handed  to  her  son's  bedside  by  the  emperor. 
He  was  in  his  plain  buff  leathern  hunting-garb,  un- 
ornamented,  save  by  the  rich  clasp  of  his  sword- 
belt  and  his  gold  chain,  and  his  head  was  only 
covered  by  the  long  sUken  locks  of  fair  hair  that 
hung  round  his  shoulders ;  but,  now  that  his  large 
keen  dark  blue  eyes  were  gravely  restrained,  and 
his  eager  face  composed,  his  countenance  was  so 
majestic,  his  bearing  so  lofty,  that  not  all  his  crowns 
could  have  better  marked  his  dignity. 

Behind  him  came  a  sunburned,  hardy  man,  wear- 
ing the  white  mantle  and  black  fleur-de-lis-pointed 
cross  of  the  Teutonic  Order.  A  thrill  passed 
through  Ebbo's  veins  as  he  beheld  the  man  who  to 
him  represented  the  murderer  of  his  brother  and 


DO  VE  IN  TEE  EAGLETS  NEST.  373 

both  his  grandfathers,  the  cruel  oppressor  of  his 
father,  and  the  perpetrator  of  many  a  more  remote, 
but  equally  unforgotten,  injury.  And  in  like  manner 
Sir  Dankwart  beheld  the  actual  slayer  of  his  father, 
and  the  heir  of  a  long  score  of  deadly  retribution. 
No  wonder  then  that,  while  the  emperor  spoke  a  few 
words  of  salutation  and  inquiry,  gracious  though  not 
familiar,  the  two  foes  scanned  one  another  with  a 
shiver  of  mutual  repulsing,  and  a  sense  that  they 
would  fain  have  fought  it  out  as  in  the  good  old 
times. 

However,  Ebbo  only  beheld  a  somewhat  dull, 
heavy,  honest-looking  visage  of  about  thirty  years 
old,  good-nature  written  in  all  its  flat  German  fea- 
tures, and  a  sort  of  puzzled  wonder  in  the  wide  light 
eyes  that  stared  fixedly  at  him,  no  doubt  in  amaze- 
ment that  the  mighty  huge-limbed  "Wolfgang  could 
have  been  actually  slain  by  the  delicately-framed 
youth  now  more  colorless  than  ever  in  consequence 
of  the  morning's  fast.  Schleiermacher  was  also 
present,  and  the  chief  followers  on  either  hand  had 
come  into  the  lower  part  of  the  room — Hatto, 
Heinz  and  Koppel,  looking  far  from  contented ; 
some  of  the  emperor's  suite ;  and  a  few  attendants 
of  Schlangenwald,  like  himself  connected  with  the 
Teutonic  Order. 

The  emperor  spoke :  "  We  have  brought  you 
together,  Herr  Graff  von  Schlangenwald,  and  Herr 
Friedel  von  Adlerstein,  because  ye  have  given  us 
reason  to  beheve  you  willing  to  lay  aside  the 
remembrance  of  the  foul  and  deadly  strifes  of  your 


374  DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

forefathers,  and  to  live  as  good  Christians  in  friend- 
ship and  brotherhood." 

"  Sire,  it  is  true,"  said  Schlangenwald ;  and  "  It  is 
true,"  said  Ebbo. 

"  That  is  well,"  replied  Maximihan.  "  N'or  can 
our  reign  better  begin  than  by  the  closing  of  a 
breach  that  has  cost  the  land  some  of  its  bravest 
sons.  Dankwart  von  Schlangenwald,  art  thou  will- 
ing to  pardon  the  heir  of  Adlerstein  for  having 
slain  thy  father  in  free  and  honorable  combat,  as 
well  as,  doubtless,  for  other  deeds  of  his  ancestors, 
more  than  I  know  or  can  specify  ?  " 

"  Yea,  truly ;  1  pardon  him,  my  liege,  as  befits 
my  vow." 

"  And  thou,  Eberhard  von  Adlerstein,  dost  thou 
put  from  thee  vengeance  for  thy  twin  brother's 
death,  and  all  the  other  wrongs  that  thine  house 
has  suffered  ? " 

"  I  put  revenge  from  me  forever." 

"  Ye  agree,  further,  then,  instead  of  striving  as  to 
your  rights  to  the  piece  of  meadow  called  the  Debat- 
able Strand,  and  to  the  wrecks  of  burthens  there 
cast  up  by  the  stream,  ye  will  unite  with  the  citizens 
of  Ulm  in  building  a  bridge  over  the  Braunwasser, 
where,  your  mutual  portions  thereof  being  decided 
by  the  Swabian  League,  toll  may  be  taken  from  all 
vehicles  and  beasts  passing  thereover  ? " 

"  We  agree,"  said  both  knights. 

"  And  I,  also,  on  behalf  of  the  two  guilds  of 
Ulm,"  added  Moritz  Schleiermacher. 

"  Likewise,"  continued  the  emperor,  "  for  avoid- 


DOVE  /iV  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  ^% 

ance  of  debate,  and  to  consecrate  the  spot  that  has 
caused  so  much  contention,  ye  will  jointly  erect  a 
church,  where  may  be  buried  both  the  relatives 
who  fell  in  the  late  unhappy  skirmish,  and  where 
ye  will  endow  a  perpetual  mass  for  their  souls,  and 
those  of  others  of  your  two  races." 

"Thereto  I  willingly  agree,'^  said  the  Teutonic 
knight. 

But  to  Ebbo  it  was  a  shock  that  the  pure,  gentle 
Friedmund  should  thus  be  classed  with  his  treacher- 
ous assassin ;  and  he  had  almost  declared  that  it 
would  be  sacrilege,  when  he  received  from  the 
ei^iperor  a  look  of  stern,  surprised  command,  which 
reminded  him  that  concession  must  not  be  all  on  one 
side,  and  that  he  could  not  do  Friedel  a  greater 
wrong  than  to  make  him  a  cause  of  strife.  So, 
though  they  half  choked  him,  he  contrived  to  utter 
the  words,  "  I  consent." 

"  And  in  token  of  amity  I  here  tear  up  and  burn 
all  the  feuds  of  Adlerstein,"  said  Schlangenwald, 
producing  from  his  pouch  a  collection  of  hostile 
literature,  beginning  from  a  crumpled  strip  of 
yellow  parchment,  and  ending  with  a  coarse  paper 
missive  in  the  clerkly  hand  of  burgher-bred  Hugh 
Sorel,  and  bearing  the  crooked  signatures  of  the 
last  two  Eberhards  of  Adlerstein — all  with  great 
seals  of  the  eagle  shield  appended  to  them.  A 
similar  collection — which,  with  one  or  two  other 
family  defiances,  and  the  letters  of  investiture 
recently  obtained  at  Ulm,  formed  the  whole  archives 
of  Adlerstein — had  been  prepared  within  Ebbo's 


376  TtO  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

reach ;  and  each  of  the  two,  taking  up  a  dagger, 
made  extensive  gashes  in  these  documents,  and  then 
— with  no  mercy  to  the  future  antiquaries,  who 
would  have  gloated  over  them — the  whole  w^ere 
hurled  into  the  flames  on  the  hearth,  where  the 
odor  they  emitted,  if  not  grateful  to  the  physical 
sense,  should  have  been  highly  agreeable  to  the 
moral. 

"  Then,  holy  Father  Abbot,"  said  MaximiKan, 
"  let  us  ratify  this  happy  and  Christian  reconcilia- 
tion by  the  blessed  sacrifice  of  peace,  over  which 
these  two  faithful  knights  shall  unite  in  swearing 
good-will  and  brotherhood."  , 

Such  solemn  reconciliations  were  frequent,  but, 
alas !  were  too  often  a  mockery.  Here,  however, 
both  parties  were  men  who  felt  the  awe  of  the 
promise  made  before  the  pardon-winner  of  all  man- 
kind. Ebbo,  bred  up  by  his  mother  in  the  true  life 
of  the  church,  and  comparatively  apart  from  practi- 
cal superstitions,  felt  the  import  to  the  depths  of 
his  inmost  soul,  with  a  force  heightened  by  his 
bodily  state  of  nervous  impressibility  ;  and  his  wan 
wasted  features  and  dark  shining  eyes  had  a  strange 
spiritual  beam,  "  half  passion  and  half  awe,"  as  he 
followed  the  words  of  universal  forgiveness  and 
lofty  praise  that  he  had  heard  last  in  his  anguished 
trance,  when  his  brother  lay  dying  beside  him,  and 
leaving  him  behind.  He  knew  now  that  it  was  for 
this. 

His  deep  repressed  ardor  and  excitement  were  no 
small  contrast  to  the  sober,  matter-of-fact  demeanor 


DOVE  IN  TEE  EAQLE'S  NEST.  377 

of  the  Teutonic  knight,  who  comported  himself  with 
the  mechanical  decorum  of  an  ecclesiastic,  but  quite 
as  one  who  meant  to  keep  his  word.  Maximilian 
served  the  mass  in  his  royal  character  as  sub-deacon. 
He  was  fond  of  so  doing,  either  from  humility,  or 
love  of  incongruity,  or  both.  E^o  one,  however, 
communicated  except  the  clergy  and  the  parties  con- 
cerned— Dankwart  first,  as  being  monk  as  well  as 
knight,  then  Eberhard  and  his  mother :  and  then 
followed,  interposed  into  the  rite,  the  oath  of  pardon, 
friendship,  and  brotherhood,  administered  by  the 
abbot,  and  followed  by  the  solemn  kiss  of  peace. 
There  was  now  no  recoil ;  Eberhard  raised  himself  to 
meet  the  lips  of  his  foe,  and  his  heart  went  with 
the  embrace,  l^ay,  his  inward  ear  dwelt  on  Fried- 
mund's  song  mingling  with  the  concluding  chants  of 
praise. 

The  service  ended,  it  was  part  of  the  pledge  of 
amity  that  the  reconciled  enemies  should  break 
their  fast  together,  and  the  collation  of  white  bread 
and  wine  was  provided  for  the  purpose.  The 
emperor  tried  to  promote  free  and  friendly  talk 
between  the  two  adversaries,  but  not  with  great 
success ;  for  Dankwart,  though  honest  and  sincere, 
seemed  extremely  dull.  He  appeared  to  have  few 
ideas  beyond  his  Prussian  coramandery  and  its 
routine  discipline,  and  to  be  lost  in  a  castle  where  all 
was  at  his  sole  will  and  disposal,  and  he  caught 
eagerly  at  all  proposals  made  to  him  as  if  they 
were  new  lights.  As,  for  instance,  that  some  im- 
partial arbitrator  should   be  demanded  from  the 


a-J-S  DOVE  m  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

Swabian  League  to  define  the  boundary  ;  and  that 
next  Rogation-tide  the  two  knights  should  ride  or 
climb  it  in  company,  while  meantime  the  serfs 
should  be  strictly  charged  not  to  trespass,  and  any 
transgressor  should  be  immediately  escorted  to  his 
own  lord. 

"  But,"  quoth  Sir  Dankwart,  in  the  most  serious 
tone,  "  I  am  told  that  a  she-bear  wons  in  a  den  on 
yonder  crag,  between  the  pass  you  call  the  Gems- 
bock's  and  the  Schlangenwald  valley.  They  told 
me  the  right  in  it  had  never  been  decided,  and  I 
have  not  been  up  myself.  To  say  truth,  I  have 
lived  so  long  in  the  sand  plains  as  to  have  lost  my 
mountain  legs,  and  I  hesitated  to  see  if  a  hunter 
could  mount  thither  for  fear  of  fresh  offense ;  but,  if 
she  bide  there  till  Rogation-tide,  it  will  be  ill  for  the 
lambs." 

"  Is  that  all  ?  "  cried  Maximilian.  "  Then  will  I,  a 
neutral,  kill  your  bear  for  you,  gentlemen,  so  that 
neither  need  transgress  this  new  crag  of  debate.  I'll 
go  down  and  look  at  your  bear  spears,  friend  Ebbo, 
and  be  ready  so  soon  as  Kasimir  has  done  with  his 
bridal." 

"That  crag!"  cried  Ebbo.  "Little  good  will  it 
do  either  of  us.  Sire,  it  is  a  mere  wall  of  sloping 
rock,  slippery  as  ice,  and  with  only  a  stone  or 
matting  of  ivy  here  and  there  to  serve  as  foot- 
hold." 

"Where  bear  can  go,  man  can  go,"  replied  the 
kaisar. 

"Oh,  yes!    "We  have  been  there,  craving  your 


DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST,  379 

pardon,  Herr  Graf,"  said  Ebbo,  "after  a  dead 
chamois  that  rolled  into  a  cleft,  but  it  is  the  worst 
crag  on  all  the  hill,  and  the  frost  will  make  it  slip- 
pery. Sire,  if  you  do  venture  it,  I  conjure  you  to 
take  Koppel,  and  climb  by  the  rocks  from  the  left, 
not  the  right,  which  looks  easiest.  The  yellow 
rock,  with  a  face  like  a  man's,  is  the  safer ;  but  ach, 
it  is  fearful  for  one  who  knows  not  the  rocks ! " 

"  If  I  know  not  the  rocks,  all  true  German  rocks 
know  me,"  smiled  Maximilian,  to  whom  the  danger 
seemed  to  be  such  a  stimulus  that  he  began  to  pro- 
pose the  bear-hunt  immediately,  as  an  interlude 
while  waiting  for  the  bride. 

However,  at  that  moment  half-a-dozen  horsemen 
were  seen  coming  up  from  the  ford,  by  the  nearer 
path,  and  a  forerunner  arrived  with  the  tidings  that 
the  Baron  of  Adlerstein  Wildschloss  was  close  be- 
hind with  the  little  Baroness  Thekla. 

Half  the  moonlight  night  had  Sir  Kasimir  and 
his  escort  ridden ;  and,  after  a  brief  sleep  at  the 
nearest  inn  outside  Ulm,  he  had  entered  in  early 
morning,  demanded  admittance  at  the  convent, 
made  short  work  with  the  Abbess  Ludmilla's  argu- 
ments, claimed  his  daughter,  and  placing  her  on  a 
cushion  before  him  on  his  saddle,  had  borne  her 
away,  telling  her  of  freedom,  of  the  kind  lady,  and 
the  young  knight  who  had  dazzled  her  childish 
fancy. 

Christina  went  down  to  receive  her.  There  was 
no  time  to  lose,  for  the  huntsman  kaisar  was  bent 
on  the  slaughter  of  his  bear  before  dark,  and,  if  he 


380  DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE' 8  NEST. 

were  to  be  a  witness  of  the  wedding,  it  must  be  im- 
mediate. He  was  in  a  state  of  much  impatience, 
which  he  beguiled  by  teasing  his  friend  Wildschloss 
b}^  reminding  him  how  often  he  himself  had  been 
betrothed,  and  had  managed  to  slip  his  neck  out  of 
the  noose. 

"And  if  my  Margot  be  not  soon  back  on  my 
hands,  I  shall  give  the  French  credit,"  he  said,  toss- 
ing his  bear-spear  in  the  air,  and  catching  it  again. 
"  Why,  this  bride  is  as  long  of  busking  her  as  if  she 
w^ere  a  beauty  of  seventeen !  I  must  be  off  to  my 
Lady  Bearess." 

Thus  nothing  could  be  done  to  prepare  the  little 
maiden  but  to  divest  her  of  her  mufflings,  and  comb 
out  her  flaxen  hair,  crowning  it  with  a  wreath 
which  Christina  had  already  woven  from  the  myrtle 
of  her  own  girlhood,  scarcely  waiting  to  answer 
the  bewildered  queries  and  entreaties  save  by  ca- 
resses and  admonitions  to  her  to  be  very  good. 

Poor  little  thing!  She  was  tired,  frightened, 
and  confused ;  and  when  she  had  been  brought  up- 
stairs, she  answered  the  half-smiling,  half-shy  greet- 
ing of  her  bridegroom  with  a  shudder  of  alarm,  and 
the  exclamation :  "  Where  is  the  beautiful  young 
knight  ?  That's  a  lady  going  to  take  the  veil  Ipng 
under  the  pall." 

"  You  look  rather  Hke  a  little  nun  yourself,"  said 
Ebbo,  for  she  wore  a  little  conventual  dress,  "  but 
we  must  take  each  other  for  such,  as  Tre  are ; "  and, 
as  she  hid  her  face  and  clung  to  his  mother,  he 
added,  in  a  more  cheerful,  coaxing  tone:  "You 
once  said  you  would  be  my  wife." 


DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  381 

"  Ah,  but  then  there  were  two  of  you,  and  you 
were  all  shining  bright." 

Before  she  could  be  answered,  the  impatient  em- 
peror returned,  and  brought  with  him  the  abbot, 
who  proceeded  to  find  the  place  in  his  book,  and  to 
ask  the  bridegroom  for  the  rings.  Ebbo  looked  at 
Sir  Kasimir,  who  owned  that  he  should  have 
brought  them  from  Ulm,  but  that  he  had  forgotten. 

"  Jewels  are  not  plenty  with  us,"  said  Ebbo,  with 
a  glow  of  amusement  and  confusion  dawning  on  his 
cheek,  such  as  reassured  the  little  maid  that  she 
beheld  one  of  the  two  beautiful  young  knights. 
"  Must  we  borrow  ?  " 

Christina  looked  at  the  ring  she  had  first  seen 
lying  on  her  own  Eberhard's  palm,  and  felt  as  if  to 
let  it  be  used  would  sever  the  renewed  hope  she 
scarcely  yet  durst  entertain ;  and  at  the  same  mo- 
ment Maximilian  glanced  at  his  own  fingers  and 
muttered  :  "  ]S"one  but  this !  Unlucky ! "  For  it 
was  the  very  diamond  which  Mary  of  Burgundy 
had  sent  to  assure  him  of  her  faith,  and  summon 
him  to  her  aid  after  her  father's  death.  Sir  Kasimir 
had  not  retained  the  pledge  of  his  own  ill-omened 
wedlock ;  but  in  the  midst  of  the  dilemma,  the  em- 
peror, producing  his  dagger,  began  to  detach  some 
of  the  massive  g(^d  links  of  the  chain  that  sup- 
ported his  hunting-horn. 

"  There,"  said  he,  "  the  little  elf  of  a  bride  can 
get  her  finger  into  this  lesser  one ;  and  you — verily, 
this  largest  mil  fit,  and  the  goldsmith  can  beat  it 
out  when  needed.  So  on  with  you  in  St.  Hubert's 
name.  Father  Abbot ! " 


382  I>0  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

Slender-boned  and  thin  as  was  Ebbo's  hand,  it 
was  a  very  tight  fit,  but  the  purpose  was  served. 
The  service  commenced ;  and  fortunately,  thanks  to 
Thekla's  conventual  education,  she  Avas  awed  into 
silence  and  decorum  by  the  sound  of  Latin  and  the 
sight  of  an  abbot.  It  was  a  strange  marriage,  if 
only  in  the  contrast  between  the  pale,  expressive 
face  and  sad,  dark  eyes  of  the  prostrate  youth,  and 
the  frightened,  bewildered  little  girl,  standing  upon 
a  stool  to  reach  up  to  him,  with  her  blue  eyes 
stretched  with  wonder,  and  her  cheeks  flushed  and 
pouting  with  unshed  tears,  her  rosy  plump  hand 
enclosed  in  the  long  white  wasted  one  that  was  thus 
forever  united  to  it  by  the  broken  fragments  of 
Kaisar  Max's  chain. 

The  rite  over,  two  attestations  of  the  marriage  of 
Eberhard,  Freiherr  von  Adlerstein,  and  Thekla, 
Frieherrinn  von  Adlerstein  Wildschloss  and  Felsen- 
bach,  were  drawn  up  and  signed  by  the  abbot,  the 
emperor.  Count  Dankwart,  and  the  father  and 
mother  of  the  two  contracting  parties ;  one  to  be 
committed  to  the  care  of  the  abbot,  the  other  to  be 
preserved  by  the  house  of  Adlerstein. 

Then  the  emperor,  as  the  concluding  grace  of  the 
ceremonial,  bent  to  kiss  the  bride ;  but,  tired,  terri 
fied,  and  cross,  Thekla,  as  if  quitj  relieved  to  have 
some  object  for  her  resentment,  returned  his  attempt 
with  a  vehement  buffet,  struck  with  all  the  force  of 
her  small  arm,  crying  out,  "  Go  away  with  you !  I 
know  I've  never  married  you!  " 

"  The  better  for  my  eyes  I "  said  the  good-natured 


DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  383 

emperor,  laughing  heartily.  "  My  Lady  Bearess  is 
like  to  prove  the  more  courteous  bride !  Fare  thee 
well,  sir  bridegroom,"  he  added,  stooping  over 
Ebbo,  and  kissing  his  brow ;  "  Heaven  give  thee 
joy  of  this  day's  work,  and  of  thy  faithful  little 
fury.  I'll  send  her  the  bear  skin  as  her  meetest 
wedding-gift." 

And  the  next  that  was  heard  from  the  kaisar  was 
the  arrival  of  a  parcel  of  Italian  books  for  the 
Frieherr  Eberhard,  and  for  the  little  freiherrinn  a 
a  large  bundle,  which  proved  to  contain  a  softly 
dressed  bearskin,  with  the  head  on,  the  eyes  being 
made  of  rubies,  a  gold  muzzle  and  chain  on  the  nose, 
and  the  claws  tipped  with  gold.  The  emperor  had 
made  a  point  that  it  should  be  conveyed  to  the 
castle,  snow  or  no  snow,  for  a  yule  gift. 


384  DO  VE  IN  THE  EA  GLE  'S  NEST. 


CHAPTER  XXIY. 

OLD    IRON   AND    NEW    STEEL. 

The  clear  sunshine  of  early  summer  was  becom- 
ing low  on  the  hillsides.  Sparkling  and  dimpling, 
the  clear  amber-colored  stream  of  the  Braunwasser 
rippled  along  its  stony  bed,  winding  in  and  out 
among  the  rocks  so  humbly  that  it  seemed  to  be 
mocked  by  the  wide  span  of  the  arch  that  crossed  it 
in  all  the  might  of  massive  bulwarks,  and  dignified 
masonry  of  huge  stones. 

Some  way  above,  a  clearing  of  the  wood  below 
the  mountain  showed  huts,  and  laborers  apparently 
constructing  a  mill  so  as  to  take  advantage  of  the 
leap  of  the  water  from  the  height  above ;  and,  on 
the  left  bank,  an  enclosure  was  traced  out,  within 
which  were  rising  the  walls  of  a  small  church,  while 
the  noise  of  the  mallet  and  chisel  echoed  back  from 
the  mountain  side,  and  masons,  white  with  stone-dust, 
swarmed  around. 

Across  the  bridge  came  a  pilgrim,  marked  out  as 
such  by  hat,  wallet,  and  long  staff,  on  which  he 
leaned  heavily,  stumbling  along  as  if  both  halting 
and  footsore,  and  bending  as  one  bowed  down  by 
past  toil  and  present  fatigue.  Pausing  in  the  center 
he  gazed  round  with  a  strange  disconcerted  air — at 


DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  385 

the  castle  on  the  terraced  hillside,  looking  down 
with  bright  eyes  of  glass  glittering  in  the  sunshine 
and  lighting  up  even  that  grim  old  pile ;  at  the 
banner  hanging  so  lazily  that  the  tinctures  and 
bearings  were  hidden  in  the  folds ;  then  at  the 
crags,  rosy  purple  in  evening  glow,  rising  in  broad 
step  above  step  up  to  the  Eed  Eyrie,  bathed  in  sunset 
majesty  of  dark  crimson ;  and  above  it  the  sweep  of 
the  descending  eagle,  discernible  for  a  moment  in 
the  pearly  light  of  the  sky.  The  pilgrim's  eye 
lighted  up  as  he  watched  it ;  but  then,  looking  down 
at  bridge,  and  church,  and  trodden  wheel-tracked 
path,  he  froAvned  with  perplexity,  and  each  painful 
step  grew  heavier  and  more  uncertain. 

Near  the  opposite  side  of  the  enclosure  there  waited 
a  tall,  rugged-looking,  elderly  man  with  two  horses 
— one  an  aged  mare,  mane,  tail,  and  all  of  the  snow- 
iest silvery  white ;  the  other  a  little  shaggy  dark 
mountain  pony,  with  a  pad-saddle.  And  close  to 
the  bank  of  the  stream  might  be  seen  its  owner,  a 
little  girl  of  some  seven  years,  whose  tight  round 
lace  cap  had  slipped  back,  as  well  as  her  blue  silk 
hood,  and  exposed  a  profusion  of  loose  flaxen  hair, 
and  a  plump,  innocent  face,  intent  upon  some  pri- 
vate little  bit  of  building  of  her  own  with  some  peb- 
bles from  the  brook,  and  some  mortar  filched  from 
the  operations  above,  to  the  great  detriment  of  her 
soft  pinky  fingers. 

The  pilgrim  looked  at  her  unperceived,  and  for  a 
moment  was  about  to  address  her ;  but  then,  with  a 
strange  air  of  repulsion,  dragged  himseK  on  to  the 


JDOVB  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 


porch  of  the  rising  church,  where,  seated  on  a  block 
of  stone,  he  could  look  into  the  interior.  All  was 
unfinished,  but  the  portion  which  had  made  the 
most  progress  was  a  chantry-chapel  opposite  to  the 
porch,  and  containing  what  were  evidently  designed 
to  be  two  monuments.  One  was  merely  blocked 
out,  but  it  showed  the  outline  of  a  warrior,  bearing 
a  shield  on  which  a  coiled  serpent  was  rudely 
sketched  in  red  chalk.  The  other,  in  a  much  more 
forward  state,  was  actually  under  the  hands  of  the 
sculptor,  and  represented  a  slender  youth,  almost  a 
boy,  though  in  the  full  armor  of  a  knight,  his  hands 
clasped  on  his  breast  over  a  lute,  an  eagle  on  his 
shield,  an  eagle-crest  on  his  helmet,  and,  under  the 
arcade  supporting  the  altar-tomb,  shields  alternately 
of  eagles  and  doves. 

But  the  strangest  thing  was  that  this  young 
knight  seemed  to  be  sitting  for  his  own  Q^gj.  The 
very  same  face,  under  the  very  same  helmet,  only  with 
the  varied,  warm  hues  of  life,  instead  of  in  cold  white 
marble,  was  to  be  seen  on  the  shoulders  of  a  young 
man  in  a  gray  cloth  dress,  with  a  black  scarf  pass- 
ing from  shoulder  to  waist,  crossed  by  a  sword  belt. 
The  hair  was  hidden  by  the  helmet,  whose  raised 
visor  showed  keen,  finely-cut  features,  and  a  pair  of 
dark  brown  eyes,  of  somewhat  grave  and  sad  ex- 
pression. 

"  Have  a  care,  Lucas,"  he  presently  said ;  "  I  fear 
me  you  are  chiseling  away  too  much.  It  must  be 
a  softer,  more  rounded  face  than  mine  has  become ; 
and,  above  all,  let  it  not  catch  any  saddened  look 


DO  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  387 

Keep  that  air  of  solemn  waiting  in  glad  hope,  as 
though  he  saw  the  dawn  through  his  closed  eyelids, 
and  were  about  to  take  up  his  song  again ! " 

"  Yerily,  Herr  Freiherr,  now  the  likeness  is  so  far 
foward,  the  actual  sight  of  you  may  lead  me  to  mar 
it  rather  than  mend." 

"  So  it  is  well  that  this  should  be  the  last  sitting. 
I  am  to  set  forth  for  Genoa  in  another  week.  If  I 
cannot  get  letters  from  the  kaisar,  I  shall  go  in 
search  of  him,  that  he  may  see  that  my  lameness  is 
no  more  an  impediment." 

The  pilgrim  passed  his  hand  over  his  face,  as 
though  to  dissipate  a  bewildering  dream ;  and  just 
then  the  little  girl,  all  flushed  and  dabbled,  flew 
rushing  up  from  the  stream,  but  came  to  a  sudden 
standstill  at  sight  of  the  stranger,  who  at  length 
addressed  her.  "Little  lady,"  he  said,  "is  this 
the  Debatable  Ford  ?  " 

"  JS'o ;  now  it  is  the  Friendly  Bridge,"  said  the 
child. 

The  pilgrim  started,  as  with  a  pang  of  recollec- 
tion. "  And  what  is  yonder  castle  ? "  he  further 
asked. 

"  Schloss  Adlerstein,"  he  said,  proudly. 

"  And  you  are  the  Httle  lady  of  Adlerstein  Wild- 
schloss  ? " 

"  Yes,"  again  she  answered  ;  and  then,  gathering 
courage — "  You  are  a  holy  pilgrim !  Come  up  to 
the  castle  for  supper  and  rest."  And  then,  spring- 
ing past  him,  she  flew  up  to  the  knight,  crying, 
*'  Herr  Freiherr,  here  is  a  holy  pilgrim,  weary  and 
hungry.     Let  us  take  him  home  to  the  mother." 


388  DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

"  Did  he  take  thee  for  a  wild  elf  ? "  said  the  young 
man,  with  an  elder-brotherly  endeavor  to  right  the 
little  cap  that  had  slidden  under  the  chin,  and  to 
push  back  the  unmanageable  wealth  of  hair  under 
it,  ere  he  rose;  and  he  came  forward  and  spoke  with 
kind  courtesy,  as  he  observed  the  wanderer's  worn 
air  and  feeble  step.  ^'  Dost  need  a  night's  lodging, 
holy  palmer  ?  My  mother  will  make  thee  welcome, 
if  thou  canst  climb  as  high  as  the  castle  yonder." 

The  pilgrim  made  an  obeisance,  but,  instead  of 
answering,  demanded  hastily,  "  See  I  yonder  the 
bearing  of  Schlangenwald  ? " 

"Even  so.  Schloss  Schlangenwald  is  about  a 
league  further  on,  and  thou  wilt  find  a  kind  recep- 
tion, there,  if  thither  thou  art  bent." 

"  Is  that  Graf  Wolfgang's  tomb  ? "  stiU  eagerly 
pursued  the  pilgrim ;  and  receiving  a  sign  in  the 
affirmative,  "  What  was  his  end  ?  " 

"  He  fell  in  a  skirmish." 

"  By  whose  hand  ? " 

"  By  mine." 

"  Ha !  "  and  the  pilgrim  surveyed  him  with  un- 
disguised astonishment;  then,  without  another 
word,  took  up  his  staff  and  limped  out  of  the  build- 
ing, but  not  on  the  road  to  Schlangenwald.  It  was 
nearly  a  quarter  of  an  hour  afterward  that  he  was 
overtaken  by  the  young  knight  and  the  little  lady 
on  their  horses,  just  where  the  new  road  to  the 
castle  parted  from  the  old  way  by  the  Eagle's  Lad- 
der. The  knight  reined  up  as  he  saw  the  poor 
man's  slow,  painful  steps,  and  said,  "  So  thou  art 
not  bound  for  Schlangenwald  % " 


DO  YE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  389 

"  I  would  to  the  village,  so  please  you — to  the 
shrine  of  the  Blessed  Friedmund." 

"  IS  ay,  at  this  rate  thou  wilt  not  be  there  till  mid- 
night," said  the  young  knight  springing  off  his 
horse ;  "  thou  canst  never  brook  our  sharp  stones ! 
See,  Thekla,  do  thou  ride  on  with  Heinz  to  tell  the 
mother  I  am  bringing  her  a  holy  pilgrim  to  tend. 
And  thou,  good  man,  mount  my  old  gray.  Fear 
not ;  she  is  steady  and  sure-footed,  and  hath  of  late 
been  used  to  a  lame  rider.  Ah  !  that  is  well.  Thou 
hast  been  in  the  saddle  before." 

To  go  afoot  for  the  sake  of  giving  a  lift  to  a  holy 
wayfarer  was  one  of  the  most  esteemed  acts  of  piety 
of  the  Middle  Age,  so  that  no  one  durst  object  to  it, 
and  the  palmer  did  no  more  than  utter  a  suppressed 
murmur  of  acknowledgment  as  he  seated  himself 
on  horseback,  the  young  knight  walking  by  his  rein. 
"  But  what  is  this  ? "  he  exclaimed,  almost  with  dis- 
may.    "  A  road  to  the  castle  up  here ! " 

"  Yes,  we  find  it  a  great  convenience.  Thou  art 
surely  from  these  parts  ? "  added  the  knight. 

"  I  was  a  man-at-arms  in  the  service  of  the  baron," 
was  the  answer,  in  an  odd,  muffled  tone. 

"  What ! — of  my  grandfather ! "  was  the  exclama- 
tion. 

"  JSTo !  "  gruffly.  "  Of  old  Freiherr  Eberhard.  Not 
of  any  of  the  Wildschloss  crew." 

"  But  I  am  not  a  Wildschloss !  I  am  grandson  to 
Freiherr  Eberhard  !  Oh,  wast  thou  with  him  and 
my  father  when  they  were  set  upon  in  the  hostel?" 
he  cried,  looking  eagerly  up  to  the  pilgrim  ;  but  the 


390  I>0  VE  IN  THE  EA&LE*8  NEST. 

man  kept  his  broad-leaved  hat  slouched  over  his 
face,  and  only  muttered,  "  The  son  of  Christina ! " 
the  last  word  so  low  that  Ebbo  was  not  sure  that  he 
caught  it,  and  the  next  moment  the  old  warrior  ex- 
claimed exultingly,  "  And  you  have  had  vengeance 
on  them  !     When — how — where  ?  " 

"Last  harvest-tide — at  the  Debatable  Strand," 
said  Ebbo,  never  able  to  speak  of  the  encounter 
without  a  weight  at  his  heart,  but  drawn  on  by  the 
earnestness  of  the  old  foe  of  Schlangenwald.  "  It 
was  a  meeting  in  full  career — lances  broken,  sword- 
stroke  on  either  hand.  I  was  sore  wounded,  but 
my  sword  went  through  his  collar-bone." 

"  Well  struck  !  good  stroke  ! "  cried  the  pilgrim, 
in  rapture.     "  And  with  that  sword  ?  " 

"  With  this  sword.  Didst  know  it  ? "  said  Ebbo, 
drawing  the  weapon,  and  giving  it  to  the  old  man, 
who  held  it  for  a  few  moments,  weighed  it  affec- 
tionately, and  with  a  long  low  sigh  restored  it,  say- 
ing, "  It  is  well.  You  and  that  blade  have  paid  off 
the  score.  I  should  be  content.  Let  me  dismount. 
I  know  my  way  to  the  hermitage." 

"  IS'ay,  what  is  this  ? "  said  Ebbo  ;  "  thou  must 
have  rest  and  food.  The  hermitage  is  empty, 
scarce  habitable.  My  mother  will  not  be  balked  of 
the  care  of  thy  bleeding  feet." 

"  But  let  me  go,  ere  I  bring  evil  on  you  all.  I 
can  pray  up  there,  and  save  my  soul,  but  I  cannot 
see  it  all." 

"  See  what  ? "  said  Ebbo,  again  trying  to  see  his 
guest's  face.     "  There  may  be  changes,  but  an  old 


PO  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NE8T  391 

faithful  follower  of  my  father's  must  ever  be  wel- 
come." 

"N'ot  when  his  wife  has  taken  a  new  lord," 
growled  the  stranger,  bitterly,  "and  he  a  Wild- 
schloss  !  Young  man,  I  could  have  pardoned  aught 
else ! " 

"  I  know  not  who  you  may  be  who  talk  of  pardon- 
ing my  lady-mother,"  said  Ebbo,  "  but  new  lord  she 
has  neither  taken  nor  will  take.  She  has  refused 
every  offer ;  and,  now  that  Schlangenwald  with  his 
last  breath  confessed  that  he  slew  not  my  father, 
but  sold  him  to  the  Turks,  I  have  been  only  await- 
ing recovery  from  my  wound  to  go  in  search  of 
him." 

"  Who  then  is  yonder  child,  who  told  me  she  was 
Wildschloss?" 

"  That  child,"  said  Ebbo,  with  half  a  smile  and 
half  a  blush,  "  is  my  wife,  the  daughter  of  Wild- 
schloss,  w^ho  prayed  me  to  espouse  her  thus  early, 
that  so  my  mother  might  bring  her  up." 

By  this  time  they  had  reached  the  castle  court, 
now  a  well-kept,  lordly-looking  enclosure,  where  the 
pilgrim  looked  about  him  as  one  bewildered.  He 
was  so  infirm  that  Ebbo  carefully  helped  him  up  the 
stone  stairs  to  the  hall,  where  he  already  saw  his 
mother  prepared  for  the  hospitable  reception  of  the 
palmer.  Leaving  him  at  the  entrance,  Ebbo  crossed 
the  hall  to  say  to  her  in  a  low  voice,  "  This  pilgrim 
is  one  of  the  old  lanzknechts  of  my  grandfather's 
time.  I  wonder  whether  you  or  Heinz  will  know  him. 
One  of  the  old  sort — supremely  discontented  at 
change." 


S9^  DOVE  IN  TSE  EAGLE'8  ^E8T. 

"  And  thou  hast  walked  up,  and  wearied  thyself ! " 
exclaimed  Christina,  grieved  to  see  her  son's  halting 
step. 

"  A  rest  will  soon  cure  that,"  said  Ebbo,  seating 
himself  as  he  spoke  on  a  settle  near  the  hall  fire ; 
but  the  next  moment  a  strange  wUd  low  shriek  from 
his  mother  made  him  start  up  and  spring  to  her 
side.  She  stood  with  hands  clasped,  and  wondering 
eyes.  The  pilgrim — his  hat  on  the  ground,  his 
white  head  and  rugged  face  displayed — was  gazing 
as  though  devouring  her  with  his  eyes,  murmuring, 
"  Unchanged  !  unchanged  ! " 

"What  is  this!"  thundered  the  young  baron. 
"  What  are  you  doing  to  the  lady  ? " 

"Hush!  hush,  Ebbo!"  exclaimed  Christina.  "It 
is  thy  father !  On  thy  knees  !  Thy  father  is  come ! 
It  is  our  son,  my  own  lord.  Oh,  embrace  him ! 
Kneel  to  him,  Ebbo ! "  she  wildly  cried. 

"  Hold  mother,"  said  Ebbo,  keeping  his  arm  round 
her,  though  she  struggled  against  him,  for  he  felt 
some  doubts  as  he  looked  back  at  his  walk  with  the 
stranger,  and  remembered  Heinz's  want  of  recog- 
nition. "Is  it  certain  that  this  is  indeed  my 
father?" 

"Oh,  Ebbo,"  was  the  cry  of  poor  Christina, 
almost  beside  herself,  "  how  could  I  not  be  sure  ?  I 
know  him  !  I  feel  it !  Oh,  my  lord,  bear  with  him. 
It  is  his  wont  to  be  so  loving !  Ebbo,  cannot  you 
see  it  is  himself  ? " 

"  The  young  fellow  is  right,"  said  the  stranger, 
slowly.     "  I  will  answer  all  he  may  demand." 


DOVE  m  TBE  EAGLE'S  NE8T.  393 

"Forgive  me,"  said  Ebbo,  abashed,  "forgive 
me ; "  and,  as  his  mother  broke  from  him,  he  fell 
upon  his  knee  ;  but  he  only  heard  his  father's  cry, 
"  Ah !  Stine,  Stine,  thou  alone  art  the  same,"  and, 
looking,  up,  saw  her,  with  her  face  hidden  in  the 
white  beard,  quivering  with  a  rapture  such  as  he  had 
had  never  seen  in  her  before.  It  seemed  long  to 
him  ere  she  looked  up  again  in  her  husband's  face 
to  sob  on:  "My  son!  Oh!  my  beautiful  twins! 
Our  son !  Oh,  see  him,  dear  lord  !  "  And  the  pil- 
grim turned  to  hear  Ebbo's  "Pardon,  honored 
father,  and  your  blessing." 

Almost  bashfully  the  pilgrim  laid  his  hand  on  the 
dark  head,  and  murmured  something;  then  said, 
"  Up,  then !  The  slayer  of  Schlangenwald  kneel- 
ing !  Ah !  Stine,  I  knew  thy  little  head  was  won- 
drous wise,  but  I  little  thought  thou  wouldst  breed 
him  up  to  avenge  us  on  old  Wolfgang  !  So  slender 
a  lad  too  ?  Ha !  Schneiderlein,  old  rogue,  I  knew 
thee,"  holding  out  his  hand.  "  So  thou  didst  get 
home  safe  ? " 

"  Ay,  my  lord  ;  though,  if  I  left  you  alive,  never 
more  will  I  call  a  man  dead,"  said  Heinz. 

"  Worse  luck  for  me — till  now,"  said  Sir  Eber- 
hard,  whose"" tones,  rather  than  his  looks,  carried 
perfect  conviction  of  his  identity.  It  was  the  old 
homely  accent,  and  gruff  good-humored  voice,  but 
with  something  subdued  and  broken  in  the  tone. 
His  features  had  grown  like  his  father's  but  he 
looked  much  older  than  ever  the  hale  old  mountain- 
eer had  done,  or  than  his  real  age ;  so  Avorn  and 


394  DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

lined  was  his  face,  his  skin  tanned,  his  eyelids  and 
temples  puckered  by  burning  sun,  his  hair  and  beard 
white  as  the  mane  of  his  old  mare,  the  proud  Adler- 
stein  port  entirely  gone.  He  stooped  even  more 
without  his  staff  than  with  it ;  and,  when  he  yielded 
himself  with  a  sigh  of  repose  to  his  wife's  tendance, 
she  found  that  he  had  not  merely  the  ordinary 
hurts  of  traveling,  but  that  there  were  old  festering 
scars  on  his  ankles.  "  The  gyves,"  he  said,  as  she 
looked  up  at  him  with  startled,  pitying  eyes. 
"  Little  deemed  I  that  they  would  ever  come  under 
thy  tender  hands."  As  he  almost  timidly  smoothed 
the  braid  of  dark  hair  on  her  brow :  "  So  they  never 
burned  thee  for  a  witch  after  all,  little  one  ?  I 
thought  ray  mother  ayouM  never  keep  her  hands  off 
thee,  and  used  to  fancy  I  heard  the  crackling  of  the 
flame." 

"She  spared  me  for  my  children's  sake,"  said 
Christina ;  "  and  truly  Heaven  has  been  very  good 
to  us,  but  never  so  much  as  now.  My  dear 
lord,  will  it  weary  thee  too  much  to  come  to 
the  castle  chapel  and  give  thanks  ? "  she  said 
timidly. 

"  With  all  my  heart,"  he  answered,  earnestly.  "  I 
would  go  even  on  my  knees.  We  were  not  without 
masses  even  in  Tunis ;  but,  when  Italian  and  Span- 
iard would  be  ransomed,  and  there  was  no  mind  of 
the  German,  I  little  thought  I  should  ever  sing 
Brother  Lambert's  psalm  about  turning  our  captiv- 
ity as  rivers  in  the  south." 

Ebbo  was  hovering  round,  supplying  all  that  was 


DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST,  395 

needed  for  his  father's  comfort ;  but  his  parents  were 
so  completely  absorbed  in  one  another  that  he  was 
scarcely  noticed,  and,  what  perhaps  pained  him 
more,  there  was  no  word  about  Friedel.  He  felt 
this  almost  an  injustice  to  the  brother  who  had 
been  foremost  in  embracing  the  idea  of  the  un- 
known father,  and  scarcely  understood  how  his 
parents  shrank  from  any  sorrowful  thought  that 
might  break  in  on  their  new-found  joy,  nor  that  he 
himself  was  so  strange  and  new  a  being  in  his  fath- 
er's eyes,  that  to  imagine  him  doubled  was  hardly 
possible  to  the  tardy,  dulled  capacity,  which  as  yet 
seemed  unable  to  feel  anything  but  that  here  was 
home,  and  Christina. 

When  the  chapel  bell  rang,  and  the  pair  rose  to 
offer  their  thanksgiving,  Ebbo  dutifully  offered 
his  support,  but  was  absolutely  unseen,  so  fondly 
was  Sir  Eberhard  leaning  on  his  wife ;  and  her 
bright  exulting  smile  and  shake  of  the  head  gave  an 
absolute  pang  to  the  son  who  had  hitherto  been  all 
in  all  to  her. 

He  followed,  and  as  they  passed  Friedmund's 
coffin,  he  thought  his  mother  pointed  to  it,  but  even 
of  this  he  was  uncertain.  The  pair  knelt  side  by 
side  with  hands  locked  together,  while  notes  of 
praise  rose  from  all  voices ;  and  meantime  Ebbo, 
close  to  that  coffin,  strove  to  share  the  joy,  and  to 
lift  up  a  heart  that  would  sink  in  the  midst  of  self- 
reproach  for  undutifulness,  and  would  dislike  the 
thought  of  the  rude  untaught  man,  holding  aloof 
from  him,  likely  to  view  him  with  distrust  and 


396  DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

jealousy,  and  to  undo  all  he  had  achieved,  and 
further  absorbing  the  mother,  the  mother  who  was 
to  him  all  the  world,  and  for  whose  sake  he  had 
given  his  best  years  to  the  child- wife,  as  yet  nothing 
to  him. 

It  was  reversing  the  natural  order  of  things  that 
after  reigning  from  infancy,  he  should  have  to  give 
up  at  eighteen  to  one  of  the  last  generation ;  and 
some  such  thought  rankled  in  his  mind  when  the 
whole  household  trooped  joyfully  out  of  the  chapel 
to  prepare  a  banquet  for  their  old  new  lord,  and 
their  young  old  lord  was  left  alone. 

Alone  with  the  coffin  where  the  armor  lay  upon 
the  white  cross,  Ebbo  threw  himself  on  his  knees, 
and  laid  his  head  upon  it,  murmuring  "  Ah,  Friedel! 
Friedel !  Would  that  we  had  changed  places ! 
Thou  wouldst  brook  it  better.  At  least  thou  didst 
never  know  what  it  is  to  be  lonely." 

"  Herr  Baron  ! "  said  a  little  voice. 

His  first  movement  was  impatient.  Thekla  was 
apt  to  pursue  him  wherever  he  did  not  want  her ; 
but  here  he  had  least  expected  her,  for  she  had  a 
great  fear  of  that  coffin,  and  could  hardly  be 
brought  to  the  chapel  at  prayer  times,  when  she 
generally  occupied  herself  with  fancies  that  the 
empty  helmet  glared  at  her.  But  now  Ebbo  saw 
her  standing  as  near  as  she  durst,  with  a  sweet 
wistf ulness  in  her  eyes,  such  as  he  had  never  seen 
there  before. 

"What  is  it,  Thekla ?"  he > said.  "Art  sent  to 
call  me  ? " 


■  No ;  only  I  saw  that  you  stayed  here  all  alone, '  she  said,  clasping  her  hands. 
Page  397. 


DO  YE  IN  THE  EAGLE 'S  NEST,  397 

"  ISTo ;  only  I  saw  that  you  stayed  here  all  alone," 
she  said,  clasping  her  hands. 

"  Must  I  not  be  alone,  child  ? "  he  said,  bitterly. 
"  Here  Kes  my  brother.  My  mother  has  her  hus- 
band again ! " 

"  But  you  have  me ! "  cried  Thekla ;  and,  as  he 
looked  up  between  amusement  and  melancholy,  he 
met  such  a  loving  eager  little  face,  that  he  could  not 
help  holding  out  his  arms,  and  letting  her  cling  to 
to  him.  "  Indeed,"  she  said,  "  I'll  never  be  afraid 
of  the  helmet  again,  if  only  you  will  not  lay  down 
your  head  there,  and  say  you  are  alone." 

"  JSTever,  Thekla !  while  yoa  are  my  little  wife," 
said  he ;  and,  child  as  she  was,  there  was  strange 
solace  to  his  heart  in  the  eyes  that,  once  vacant  and 
wondering,  had  now  gained  a  look  of  love  and  in- 
telligence. 

"  What  are  you  going  to  do  ?  "  she  said  shudder- 
ing a  little,  as  he  rose  and  laid  his  hand  on  Friedel's 
sword. 

"To  make  thee  gird  on  thine  own  knight's 
sword,"  said  Ebbo,  unbuckling  that  which  he  had  so 
long  worn.  "  Friedel,"  he  added,  "  thou  wouldst 
give  me  thine.  Let  me  take  up  thy  temper  with  it, 
thine  open-hearted  love  and  humility." 

He  guided  Thekla's  happy  little  fingers  to  the 
fastening  of  the  belt,  and  then,  laying  his  hand  on 
hers,  said  gravely,  "  Thekla,  never  speak,  of  what  I 
said  just  now — not  even  to  the  mother.  Kemember, 
it  is  thy  husband's  first  secret." 

And  feeling  no  longer  solitary  when  his  hand  was 


398  DOVE  IN  THE  EA GLE '8  NEST, 

in  the  clasp  of  hers,  he  returned  to  the  hall,  where 
his  father  was  installed  in  the  baronial  chair,  in 
which  Ebbo  had  been  at  home  from  babyhood. 
His  mother's  exclamation  showed  that  her  son  had 
been  wanting  to  her ;  and  she  looked  fuller  than 
ever  of  bGss  when  Ebbo  gravely  stood  before  his 
father,  and  presented  him  with  the  good  old  sword 
that  he  had  sent  to  his  unborn  son. 

"  You  are  like  to  use  it  more  than  I — nay,  you 
have  used  it  to  some  purpose,"  said  he.  "  Yet  must 
I  keep  mine  old  comrade  at  least  a  little  while. 
Wife,  son,  sword,  should  make  one  feel  the  same 
man  again,  but  it  is  all  too  wonderful !  " 

All  that  evening,  and  long  after,  his  hand  from 
time  to  time  sought  the  hilt  of  his  sword,  as  if  that 
touch  above  all  proved  to  him  that  he  was  again  a 
free  noble  in  his  own  castle. 

The  story  he  told  was  thus.  The  swoon  in 
which  Heinz  had  left  him  had  probably  saved  his 
life  by  checking  the  gush  of  blood,  and  he  had 
known  no  more  till  he  found  himself  in  a  rough  cart 
among  the  corpses.  At  Schlangenwald's  castle  he 
had  been  found  still  breathing,  and  had  been  flung 
into  a  dungeon,  where  he  lay  unattended,  for  how 
long  he  never  knew,  since  all  the  early  part  of  the 
time  was  lost  in  the  clouds  of  fever.  On  coarse  fare 
and  scanty  drink,  in  that  dark  vault,  he  had  struggled 
by  sheer  obstinacy  of  vitality  into  recovery.  In  the 
very  height  of  midsummer  alone  did  the  sun  peep 
through  the  grating  of  his  cell,  and  he  had  newly 
hailed  this  cheerful  visitor  when  he   was  roughly 


DO  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE 'S  NEST.  399 

summoned,  placed  on  horseback  with  eyes  and 
hands  bound,  and  only  allowed  sight  again  to  find 
himself  among  a  herd  of  his  fellow  Germans  in  the 
Turkish  camp.  They  were  the  prisoners  of  the  ter- 
rible Turkish  raid  of  1475,  when  Georg  von  Schenk 
and  fourteen  other  noblemen  of  Austria  and  Styria 
were  all  taken  in  one  unhappy  fight,  and  dragged 
away  into  captivity,  with  hundreds  of  lower 
rank. 

To  Sir  Eberhard  the  change  had  been  greatly  for 
the  better.  The  Turk  had  treated  him  much  better 
than  the  Christian;  and  walking  in  the  open  air, 
chained  to  a  German  comrade,  was  far  pleasanter 
than  pining  in  his  lonely  dungeon.  At  Adrianople, 
an  offer  had  been  made  to  each  of  the  captives,  if 
they  would  become  Moslems,  of  entering  the  Ottoman 
service  as  spahis ;  but  with  one  voice  they  had  re- 
fused, and  had  been  draughted  into  different  divi- 
sions. The  fifteen  nobles,  who  had  been  offered  for 
ransom,  were  taken  to  Constantinople,  to  await  its 
arrival,  and  they  had  promised  Sir  Eberhard  to 
publish  his  fate  on  their  return  to  their  homes; 
and,  though  he  knew  the  family  resources  too  well 
to  have  many  hopes,  he  was  rather  hurt  to  find 
that  their  promise  had  been  unfulfilled. 

"  Alas !  they  had  no  opportunity,"  said  Ebbo. 
"  Gulden  were  scarce,  or  were  all  in  Kaiser  Fried- 
rich's  great  chest ;  the  ransoms  could  not  be  raised, 
and  all  died  in  captivity.  I  heard  about  it  when  I 
was  at  Wurms  last  month." 

"  The  boy  at  Wurms  ? "  almost  gasped  Sir  Eber- 
hard in  amaze. 


400  DO  YE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

"  I  had  to  be  there  about  matters  concerning  the 
Wildschloss  lands  and  the  bridge,"  said  Ebbo ; "  and 
both  Dankwart  von  Schlangenwald  and  I  made 
special  inquiries  about  that  company  in  case  you 
should  have  shared  their  fate.  I  hoped  to  have  set 
forth  at  that  time,  but  the  kaisar  said  I  was 
still  too  lame,  and  refused  me  license,  or  letters  to  the 
sultan." 

"  You  would  not  have  found  me,"  said  his  father, 
narrating  how  he  with  a  large  troop  of  captives  had 
been  driven  down  to  the  coast ;  where  they  were 
transferred  to  a  Moorish  slave-dealer,  who  shipped 
them  off  for  Tunis.  Here,  after  their  first  taste  of 
the  miseries  of  a  sea  life,  the  alternative  of  Islam  or 
slavery  was  again  put  before  them.  "  And  by  the 
holy  stone  of  Nicaea,"  said  Sir  Eberhard,  "  I  thought 
by  that  time  that  the  infidels  had  the  advantage  of 
us  in  good- will  and  friendliness ;  but  when  they 
told  me  women  had  no  souls  at  all,  no  more  than  a 
horse  or  dog,  I  knew  it  was  but  an  empty  dream  of 
religion  ;  for  did  I  not  know  that  my  little  Ermen- 
trude,  and  thou,  Stine,  had  finer,  clearer,  wiser 
souls  than  ever  a  man  I  had  known  ?  '  ^ay,  nay,' 
quoth  I,  '  I'll  cast  in  my  lot  where  I  may  meet  my 
wife  hereafter,  should  I  never  see  her  here.'  "  He 
had  then  been  allotted  to  a  corsair,  and  had  thence- 
forth been  chained  to  the  bench  of  rowers,  between 
the  two  decks,  Avhere  in  stifling  heat  and  stench,  in 
storm  or  calm,  healthy  or  diseased,  the  wretched 
oarsmen  were  compelled  to  play  the  part  of  machin- 
ery in  propelling  the  vessel,  in   order  to  capture 


noVB  IK  TUB  EAGLE'S  NEST,  401 

Christian  ships — making  exertions  to  which  only 
the  perpetual  lash  of  the  galley-  master  could  have 
urged  their  exhausted  frames ;  often  not  desisting 
for  twenty  or  thirty  hours,  and  rowing  still  while 
sustenance  was  put  into  their  mouths  by  their 
drivers.  Many  a  man  drew  his  last  breath  with  his 
last  stroke,  and  was  at  the  first  leisure  moment 
hurled  into  the  waves.  It  was  the  description  that 
had  so  deeply  moved  Friedel  long  ago,  and  Christina 
wept  over  it,  as  she  looked  at  the  bowed  form  once 
so  proud  and  free,  and  thought  of  the  unhealed 
scars.  But  there,  her  husband  added,  he  had  been 
chained  next  to  a  holy  friar  of  German  blood,  like 
himself  a  captive  of  the  great  Styrian  raid ;  and, 
while  some  blasphemed  in  their  misery,  or  wildly 
chid  their  patron  saints,  this  good  man  strove  to 
show  that  all  was  to  work  out  good  ;  he  had  a  pious 
saying  for  all  that  befell,  and  adored  the  will  of 
God  in  thus  purifying  him  ;  "  And,  if  it  were  thus 
with  a  saint  like  him,  I  thought,  what  must  it  be 
with  a  rough  f  reebooting  godless  sinner  such  as  I 
had  been?  See" — and  he  took  out  a  rosary  of 
strung  bladders  of  seaweed :  "  that  is  what  he  left 
me  when  he  died,  and  what  I  meant  to  have  been 
telling  forever  up  in  the  hermitage." 

"He  died,  then?" 

"  Ay — he  died  on  the  shore  of  Corsica,  while  most 
of  the  dogs  were  off  harrying  a  village  inland,  and 
we  had  a  sort  of  respite,  or  I  trow  he  would  have 
rowed  till  his  last  gasp.  How  he  prayed  for  the 
poor  wretches  they  were  gone  to  attack !    ay,  and 


402  DOVE  IN  THE  EA OLE 'S  NEST. 

for  all  of  US — for  me  also.  There's  enough  of  it. 
Such  talk  skills  not  now." 

It  was  plain  that  Sir  Eberhard  had  learned  more 
Christianity  in  the  hold  of  his  Moorish  pirate  ship 
than  ever  in  the  Holy  Eoman  empire,  and  a  weight 
was  hfted  off  his  son's  mind  by  finding  that  he  had 
vowed  never  to  return  to  a  life  of  violence,  even 
though  fancying  a  life  of  penance  in  a  hermitage  the 
only  alternative. 

Ebbo  asked  if  the  Genoese  merchant.  Sir  Gian 
Battista  dei  Battiste,  had  indeed  been  one  of  his 
fellow-captives.  "  Ha  !  what  ? "  and  on  the  repeti- 
tion, "  Truly  I  knew  him,  merchant  Gian  as  we 
used  to  call  him ;  but  you  twang  off  his  name  as 
they  speak  it  in  his  own  stately  city." 

Christina  smiled.  "Ebbo  learned  the  Italian 
tongue  this  winter  from  our  chaplain,  who  had 
studied  at  Bologna.  He  was  told  it  would  aid  in 
his  quest  of  you." 

"  Tell  me  not !  "  said  the  traveler,  holding  up  his 
hands  in  deprecation ;  "  the  junker  is  worse  than  a 
priest!  And  yet  he  killed  old  Wolfgang!  But 
what  of  Gian  ?  Hold — did  not  he,  when  I  was  with 
him  at  Genoa,  tell  me  a  story  of  being  put  into  a 
dungeon  in  a  mountain  fortress  in  Germany,  and 
released  by  a  pair  of  young  lads  with  eyes  beaming 
in  the  sunrise,  who  vanished  just  as  they  brought 
him  to  a  cloister  ?  ]S'ay,  he  deemed  it  a  miracle  of 
the  saints,  and  hung  up  a  votive  picture  thereof  at 
the  shrine  of  the  holy  Cosmo  and  Damian. 

"  He  was  not  so  far  wrong  in  deeming  one  of  the 


DO  YE  m  THE  EAGLE  '8  NE8T.  403 

2ads  near  of  kin  to  the  holy  ones,"  said  Christina, 
softly. 

And  Ebbo  briefly  narrated  the  adventure,  when 
it  evidently  appeared  that  his  having  led  at  least 
one  foray  gave  his  father  for  the  first  time  a  fellow- 
feeling  for  him,  and  a  sense  that  he  was  one  of  the 
true  old  stock ;  but,  when  he  heard  of  the  release, 
he  growled  :  '*  So !  How  would  a  lad  have  fared 
who  so  acted  in  my  time  ?  My  poor  old  mother ! 
She  must  have  been  changed  indeed  not  to  have 
scourged  him  till  he  had  no  strength  to  cry  out !  " 

"  He  was  my  prisoner,"  said  Ebbo,  in  his  old  de- 
fiant tone ;  "  I  had  the  right." 

"  Ah,  well !  the  junker  has  always  been  master 
here,  and  I  never ! "  said  the  older  knight,  looking 
round  rather  piteously ;  and  Ebbo,  with  a  sudden 
movement,  exclaimed :  "  N^ay,  sir,  you  are  the  only 
lord  and  master,  and  I  stand  ready  to  be  the  first  to 
obey  you." 

"  You !  A  fine  young  book-learned  scholar,  al- 
ready knighted,  and  with  all  these  Wildschloss 
lands,  too!"  said  Sir  Eberhard,  gazing  with  a 
strange,  puzzled  look  at  the  delicate  but  spirited 
features  of  this  strange,  perplexing  son.  "Keach 
hither  your  hand,  boy." 

And  as  he  compared  the  slender,  shapely  hand  of 
such  finely -textured  skin  with  the  breadth  of  his 
own  horny  giant's  paw,  he  tossed  it  from  him, 
shaking  his  head  with  a  gesture  as  if  he  had  no 
commands  for  such  feminine-looking  fingers  to  ex- 
ecute, and  mortifying  Ebbo  not  a  little. 


404  I>0  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE '8  NEST, 

"  Ah ! "  said  Christina,  apologetically,  "  it  always 
grieved  your  mother  that  the  boys  would  resemble 
me  and  mine.  But,  when  daylight  comes,  Ebbo 
will  show  you  that  he  has  not  lost  the  old  German 
strength." 

"]^o  doubt  —  no  doubt,"  saicl  Sir  Eberhard, 
hastily,  "since  he  has  slain  Schlangenwald ;  and,  if 
the  former  state  of  things  be  at  an  end,  the  less  he 
takes  after  the  ancient  stock  the  better.  But  I  am 
an  old  man  now,  Stine,  though  thou  look'st  fair  and 
fresh  as  ever,  and  I  do  not  know  what  to  make  of 
these  things.  White  napery  on  the  table;  glass 
drinking  things ;  nay,  were  it  not  for  thee  and  the 
Schneiderlein,  I  should  not  know  I  was  at  home." 

He  was  led  back  to  his  narration,  and  it  appeared 
that,  after  some  years  spent  at  the  oar,  certain 
bleedings  from  the  lungs,  the  remains  of  his  wound, 
had  become  so  much  more  severe  as  to  render  him 
useless  for  naval  purposes;  and,  as  he  escaped 
actually  dying  during  a  voyage,  he  was  allowed  to 
lie  by  on  coming  into  port  till  he  had  in  some  de- 
gree recovered,  and  then  had  been  set  to  labor  at 
the  fortifications,  chained  to  another  prisoner,  and 
toiling  between  the  burning  sand  and  burning  sun, 
but  treated  with  less  horrible  severity  than  the 
necessities  of  the  sea  had  occasioned  on  board  ship, 
and  experiencing  the  benefit  of  intercourse  with  the 
better  class  of  captives,  whom  their  miserable  fate 
had  thrown  into  the  hands  of  the  Moors. 

It  was  a  favorite  almsdeed  among  the  Proven9als, 
Spaniards,  and  Italians  to  send  money  for  the  re- 


DOVE  m  TBE  MAGfLE'S  NE8T.  405 

demption  of  prisoners  to  the  Moors,  and  there  was 
a  regular  agency  for  ransoms  through  the  Jews ; 
but  German  captives  were  such  an  exception  that 
no  one  thought  of  them,  and  many  a  time  had  the 
summons  come  for  such  and  such  a  slave  by  name, 
or  for  five  poor  Sicilians,  twenty  Genoese,  a  dozen 
Marseillais,  or  the  like,  but  still  no  word  for  the 
Swabian ;  till  he  had  made  up  his  mind  that  he 
should  either  leave  his  bones  in  the  hot  mud  of  the 
harbor,  or  be  only  set  free  by  some  gallant  descent 
either  of  the  brave  king  of  Portugal,  or  of  the 
knights  of  Khodes,  of  whom  the  captives  were  ever 
dreaming  and  whispering. 

At  length  his  own  slave  name  was  shouted ;  he 
was  called  up  ty  the  captain  of  his  gang,  and,  while 
expecting  some  fresh  punishment,  or  maybe,  to  find 
himself  sold  into  some  domestic  form  of  slavery,  he 
was  set  before  a  Jewish  agent,  who,  after  examin- 
ing him  on  his  name,  country,  and  station,  and  com- 
paring his  answers  with  a  paper  of  instructions,  in- 
formed him  that  he  was  ransomed,  caused  his  fet- 
ters to  be  struck  off,  and  shipped  him  off  at  once  for 
Genoa,  with  orders  to  the  captain  to  consign  him  to 
the  merchant  Signor  dei  Battiste.  By  him  Sir  Eber- 
hard  had  been  received  with  the  warmest  hospitality, 
and  treated  as  befitted  his  original  station,  but  Bat- 
tista  disclaimed  the  merit  of  having  ransomed  him. 
He  had  but  acted,  he  said,  as  the  agent  of  an  Aus- 
trian gentleman,  from  whom  he  had  received  orders 
to  inquire  after  the  Swabian  baron  who  had  been 
his  fellow  captive,  and,  if  he  were  still  living,  to 
pay  his  ransom,  and  bring  him  home. 


406  DO  VB  m  THE  EAQLE'8  NE8T. 

"  The  name — the  name  !  "  eagerly  asked  Ebbo 
and  his  mother  at  once. 

"  The  name  ?  Gian  was  wont  to  make  bad  work 
of  our  honest  German  names,  but  I  tried  to  learn 
this — being  so  beholden  to  him.  I  even  caused  it  to 
be  spelled  over  to  me,  but  my  letters  long  ago  went 
from  me.  It  seems  to  me  that  the  man  is  a  knight- 
errant,  like  those  of  thy  ballads,  Stine — one  Kitter 
Theur— Theur " 

"  Theurdank !  "  cried  Ebbo. 

"  Ay,  Theurdank.  "What,  you  know  him  ?  There 
is  nothing  you  and  your  mother  don't  know,  I 
believe." 

"  Know  him  ?  Father,  he  is  our  greatest  and 
noblest !  He  has  been  kind  to  me  beyond  descrip- 
tion. He  is  the  kaiser !  IS'ow  I  see  why  he  had 
that  strange  arch  look  which  so  vexed  me  when 
he  forbade  me  on  my  allegiance  to  set  forth  till  my 
lameness  should  be  gone !  Long  ago  had  he  asked 
me  all  about  Gian  Battista.  To  him  he  must  have 
written." 

"The  kaiser!"  said  Sir  Eberhard.  "Nay,  the 
poor  fellows  I  left  in  Turkey  ever  said  he  was 
too  close  of  fist  for  them  to  have  hope  from 
him." 

"  Oh !  that  was  old  Kaiser  Friedrich.  This  is  our 
own  gallant  Maximilian — a  knight  as  true  and  brave 
as  ever  was  paladin,"  said  Christina ;  "  and  most 
truly  loving  and  prizing  our  Ebbo." 

"  And  yet  I  wish — I  wish,"  said  Ebbo,  that  he 
had  let  me  win  my  father's  liberty  for  myself." 


DO  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  40? 

"  Yea,  well,"  said  his  father,  "  there  spoke  the 
Adlerstein.  We  never  were  wont  to  be  beholden 
to  king  or  kaiser." 

"  E'ay,"  said  Ebbo,  after  a  moment's  recollection, 
coloring  as  he  spoke ;  "  it  is  true  that  I  deserved  it 
not.  Kay,  Sir  Father,  it  is  well.  You  owe  your 
freedom  in  very  truth  to  the  son  you  have  not 
known.  It  was  he  who  treasured  up  the  thought 
of  the  captive  German  described  by  the  merchant, 
and  even  dreamed  of  it,  while  never  doubting  of  your 
death ;  it  was  he  who  caught  up  Schlangenwald's 
first  hint  that  you  lived,  while  I,  in  my  pride,  passed 
it  by  as  merely  meant  to  perplex  me ;  it  was  he 
who  had  formed  an  absolute  purpose  of  obtaining 
some  certainty  ;  and  at  last,  when  my  impetuosity 
had  brought  on  the  fatal  battle,  it  was  he  who 
bought  with  his  own  life  the  avowal  of  your  cap- 
tivity. I  had  hoped  to  have  fulfilled  Friedel's  trust, 
and  to  have  redeemed  my  own  backwardness  ;  but 
it  is  not  to  be.  While  I  was  yet  lying  helpless  on 
my  bed,  the  emperor  has  taken  it  out  of  my  power. 
Mother,  you  receive  him  from  Friedel's  hands,  after 
aU." 

"  And  well  am  I  thankful  that  so  it  should  be," 
said  Christina.  "  Ah,  Ebbo,  sorely  should  I  have 
pined  with  anxiety  when  thou  wast  gone.  And  thy 
father  knows  that  thou  hadst  the  full  purpose." 

"  Yea,  I  know  it,"  said  the  old  man  ;  "  and,  after 
all,  small  blame  to  him  even  if  he  had  not.  He 
never  saw  me,  and  light  grieves  the  heart  for  what 
the  eye  hath  not  seen." 


408  DO  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST 

"But,"  added  the  wife,  "since  the  Eomish  king 
freed  you,  dear  lord,  cared  he  not  better  for  your 
journey  than  to  let  you  come  in  this  forlorn  plight  ? " 

This,  it  appeared,  was  far  from  being  his  deliver- 
er's fault.  Money  had  been  supplied,  and  Sir  Eber 
hard  had  traveled  as  far  as  Aosta  with  a  party  of 
Italian  merchants ;  but  no  sooner  had  he  parted 
with  them  than  he  was  completely  astray.  His  whole 
experience  of  life  had  been  as  a  robber  baron  or  as 
a  slave,  and  he  knew  not  how  to  take  care  of  him- 
self as  a  peaceful  traveler  ;  he  suffered  fresh  extor- 
tions at  every  stage,  and  after  a  few  days  was  plun- 
dered by  his  guides,  beaten,  and  left  devoid  of  all 
means  of  continuing  the  journey  to  which  he  could 
hardly  hope  for  a  cheerful  end.  He  did  not  expect 
to  find  his  mother  living — far  less  that  his  unowned 
wife  could  have  survived  the  perils  in  which  he  had 
involved  her;  and  he  believed  that  his  ancestral 
home  would,  if  not  a  ruin,  be  held  by  his  foes,  or  at 
best  by  the  rival  branch  of  the  family,  whose  wel- 
come of  the  outlawed  heir  would  probably  be  to  a 
dungeon,  if  not  a  halter.  Yet  the  only  magnet  on 
earth  for  the  lonely  wanderer  was  his  native  moun- 
tain, where  from  some  old  peasant  he  might  learn 
how  his  fair  young  bride  had  perished,  and  perhaps 
the  sins  of  his  youth  might  be  expiated  by  continual 
prayer  in  the  hermitage  chapel  where  his  sister  lay 
buried,  and  whence  he  could  see  the  crags  for  which 
his  eye  and  heart  had  craved  so  long  with  the  home- 
sickness of  a  mountaineer. 

And  now,  when  his  own  Christina  had  welcomed 


DOVE  IN  THE  EA GLE 'S  NEST,  409 

him  with  all  the  overflow  of  her  loving  heart,  un- 
changed save  that  hers  had  become  a  tenderer  yet 
more  dignified  loveliness  ;  when  his  gallant  son,  in 
all  the  bloom  of  young  manhood,  received  him  with 
dutiful  submission ;  when  the  castle,  in  a  state  of 
defense,  prosperity,  and  comfort  of  which  he  had 
never  dreamed,  was  again  his  own — still  the  old 
man  was  bewildered,  and  sometimes  oppressed  al- 
most to  distress.  He  had,  as  it  were,  fallen  asleep 
in  one  age  of  the  world,  and  wakened  in  another, 
and  it  seemed  as  if  he  really  wished  to  defer 
his  wakening,  or  else  that  repose  was  an  absolute 
novelty  to  him  ;  for  he  sat  doziQg  in  his  chair 
in  the  sun  the  whole  of  the  next  day,  and  scarcely 
spoke. 

Ebbo,  who  felt  it  a  necessity  to  come  to  an  under- 
standing of  the  terms  on  which  they  were  to  stand, 
tried  to  refer  matters  to  him,  and  to  explain  the 
past,  but  he  was  met  sometimes  by  a  shake  of  the 
head,  'sometimes  by  a  nod — not  of  assent,  but  of 
sleep  ;  and  his  mother  advised  him  not  to  harass  the 
wearied  traveler,  but  to  leave  him  to  himself  at 
least  for  that  day,  and  let  him  take  his  own  time 
for  exertion,  letting  things  meantime  go  on  as  usual. 
Ebbo  obeyed,  but  with  a  load  at  his  heart,  as  he  felt 
that  all  he  was  doing  was  but  provisional,  and  that 
it  would  be  his  duty  to  resign  all  that  he  had  planned 
and  partly  executed,  to  this  incompetent,  ignorant 
rule.  He  could  certainly,  when  not  serving  the 
emperor,  go  and  act  for  himself  at  Thekla's  dower 
castle  of  Felsenbach,  and  his  mother  might    save 


410  DO  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

things  from  going  to  utter  ruin  at  Adlerstein,  but 
no  reflection  or  self-reproach  could  make  it  other- 
wise than  a  bitter  pill  to  any  Telemachus  to  have  to 
resign  to  one  so  unhke  Ulysses  in  all  but  the  length 
of  his  wanderings — one,  also  who  seemed  only 
half  to  like,  and  not  at  all  to  comprehend,  his  Tele- 
machus. 

Meantime  Ebbo  attended  to  such  matters  as  were 
sure  to  come  each  day  before  the  Herr  Freiherr. 
I»I'ow  it  was  a  question  whether  the  stone  for  the 
mill  should  be  quarried  where  it  would  undermine 
a  bit  of  grass  land,  or  further  on,  where  the  road 
was  rougher;  now  Berend's  swine  had  got  into 
Barthel's  rye,  and  Barthel  had  severely  hurt  one  of 
them — the  Herr  Freiherr's  interference  could  alone 
prevent  a  hopeless  quarrel ;  now  a  wagon  with  iron- 
work for  the  mill  claimed  exemption  from  toll  as 
being  for  the  baron :  and  he  must  send  down  the 
toll,  to  obviate  injustice  toward  Schlangenwald  and 
Ulm.  Old  Ulrich's  grandson,  who  had  run  away 
for  a  lanzknecht,  had  sent  a  letter  home  (written  by 
a  comrade),  the  baron  must  read  and  answer  it. 
Steinra ark's  son  wanted  to  be  a  poor  student :  the 
Herr  Freiherr  must  write  him  a  letter  of  recom- 
mendation. Mother  GretheFs  ewe  had  fallen  into 
a  cleft ;  her  son  came  to  borrow  a  rope,  and  ask  aid, 
and  the  baron  must  superintend  the  hoisting  the 
poor  beast  up  again.  Hans  had  found  the  track  of 
a  wolf,  and  knew  the  hole  where  a  litter  of  cubs 
abode ;  the  freiherr,  his  wolf-hound,  and  his  spear 
were  wanted  for  their  destruction.     Dietrich  could 


DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  411 

not  tell  how  to  manage  his  new  arquebus  :  the  baron 
must  teach  him  to  take  aim.  Then  there  was  a  let- 
ter from  UliA  to  invite  the  baron  to  consult  on  the 
tax  demanded  by  the  emperor  for  his  Italian  war, 
and  how  far  it  should  concern  the  profits  of  the 
bridge  ;  and  another  letter  from  the  markgraf  of 
Wurtemburg,  as  chief  of  the  Swabian  League,  re- 
questing the  lord  of  Adlerstein  to  be  on  the  look-out 
for  a  band  of  robbers,  who  were  reported  to  be  in 
neighboring  hiUs,  after  being  hunted  out  of  some  of 
their  other  lurking-places. 

That  very  night,  or  rather  nearly  at  the  dawn  of 
a  summer  morning,  there  was  a  yelling  below  the 
castle  and  a  flashing  of  torches,  and  tidings  rang 
through  it  that  a  boor  on  the  outskirts  of  the  moun- 
tain had  had  his  ricks  fired  and  his  cattle  driven  by 
the  robbers,  and  his  young  daughters  carried  off. 
Old  Sir  Eberhard  hobbled  down  to  the  hall  in  time 
to  see  weapons  flashing  as  they  were  dealt  out,  to 
hear  a  clear  decided  voice  giving  orders,  to  listen  to 
the  tramp  of  horse,  and  watch  more  reitern  pass 
out  under  the  gateway  than  ever  the  castle  had 
counted  in  his  father's  time.  Then  he  went  back  to 
his  bed,  and  when  he  came  down  in  the  morning, 
found  all  the  womankind  of  the  castle  roasting  and 
boiling.  And,  at  noon,  little  Thekla  came  rushing 
down  from  the  watch-tower  with  news  that  all  were 
coming  home  up  the  Eagle's  Steps,  and  she  was  sure 
her  baron  had  seen  her,  and  waved  to  her.  Soon 
after,  her  baron  in  his  glittering  steel  rode  his  cream- 
colored    charger  (once  Frieda's)    into  the  castle 


412  I>0  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NE8T. 

court,  followed  by  his  exultant  merrymen.  They 
had  overtaken  the  thieves  in  good  time,  made  them 
captives,  and  recovered  the  spoil  unhurt ;  and  Heinz 
and  Koppel  made  the  castle  ring  with  the  deed  of 
their  young  lord,  who  had  forced  the  huge  leader 
of  the  band  to  the  earth,  and  kept  him  down  by 
main  strength  till  they  could  come  to  bind  him. 

"  By  main  strength?  "  slowly  asked  Sir  Eberhard, 
.who  had  been  stirred  into  excitement. 

"  He  was  a  loose-limbed,  awkward  fellow,"  said 
Ebbo,  "  less  strong  than  he  looked." 

"  Not  only  that,  sir,"  said  Heinz,  looking  from 
his  old  master  to  his  young  one ;  "  but  old  iron  is 
not  a  whit  stronger  than  new  steel,  though  the  one 
looks  full  of  might,  and  you  would  think  the  other 
but  a  toy." 

"And  what  have  you  done  with  the  rogues' 
heads  ? "  asked  the  old  knight.  "  I  looked  to  see 
them  on  your  spears.       Or  have  you  hung  them  ? " 

"  Not  so,  sir,"  said  Ebbo.  "  I  sent  the  men  off  to 
Stuttgard  with  an  escort.  I  dislike  doing  execution 
ourselves ;  it  makes  the  men  so  lawless.  Besides, 
this  farmer  was  Schlangenwalder." 

"  And  yet  he  came  to  you  for  redress  ? " 

"  Yes,  for  Sir  Dankwart  is  at  his  commandery,  and 
he  and  I  agreed  to  look  after  each  other's  lands." 

Sir  Eberhard  retired  to  his  chair  as  if  all  had 
gone  past  his  understanding,  and  thence  he  looked 
on  while  his  son  and  wife  hospitably  regaled,  and 
then  dismissed,  their  auxiliaries  in  the  rescue. 

Afterward  Christina  told  her  son  that  she  thought 


DO  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  413 

his  father  was  rested,  and  would  be  better  able  to 
attend  to  him,  and  Ebbo,  with  a  painful  swelling  in 
his  heart,  approached  him  deferentially,  with  a 
request  that  he  would  say  what  was  his  pleasure 
with  regard  to  the  emperor,  to  whom  acknowledg- 
ments must  in  the  first  place  be  made  for  his  release, 
and  next  would  arise  the  whole  question  of  homage 
and  investiture. 

"  Look  you  here,  fair  son,"  said  Sir  Eberhard, 
rousing  himself,  "  these  things  are  all  past  me.  I'll 
have  none  of  them.  You  and  your  kaiser  under- 
stand one  another,  and  your  homage  is  paid.  It 
boots  not  changing  all  for  an  old  fellow  that  is  but 
come  home  to  die." 

"  ]S"ay,  father,  it  is  in  the  order  of  things  that  you 
should  be  lord  here." 

"  I  never  was  lord  here,  and,  what  is  more,  I 
would  not,  and  could  not  be.  Son,  I  marked  you 
yesterday.  You  are  master  as  never  was  my  poor 
father,  with  all  the  bawling  and  blows  that  used  to 
rule  the  house,  while  these  fellows  mind  you  at  a 
word,  in  a  voice  as  quiet  as  your  mother's.  Besides, 
what  should  I  do  with  all  these  mills  and  bridges  of 
yours,  and  Diets,  and  Leagues,  and  councils  enough 
to  addle  a  man's  brain  ?  I^o,  no ;  I  could  once  slay 
a  bear,  or  strike  a  fair  stroke  at  a  Schlangenwalder, 
but  even  they  got  the  better  of  me,  and  I  am  good 
for  nothing  now  but  to  save  my  soul.  I  had  thought 
to  do  it  as  a  hermit  up  there  ;  but  my  little  Christina 
thinks  the  saints  will  be  just  as  well  pleased  if  I  tell 
my  beads  here,  with  her  to  help  me,  and  I  know 


414  I>0  YE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST, 

that  way  I  shall  not  make  so  many  mistakes.  So, 
young  sir,  if  you  can  give  the  old  man  a  corner  of 
the  hearth  while  he  lives,  he  will  never  interfere 
with  you.  And,  maybe,  if  the  castle  were  in  jeop- 
ardy in  your  absence,  with  that  new-fangled  road  up 
to  it,  he  could  tell  the  fellows  how  to  hold  it  out." 

"  Sir — dear  father,"  cried  the  ardent  Ebbo,  "  this 
is  not  a  fit  state  of  things.  I  wiU  spare  you  all 
trouble  and  care ;  only  make  me  not  undutiful ;  take 
your  own  place.     Mother,  convince  him !  " 

"  No,  my  son,"  said  Sir  Eberhard  ;  "  your  mother 
sees  what  is  best  for  me.  I  only  want  to  be  left  to 
her  to  rest  a  little  while,  and  repent  of  my  sinful 
life.  As  Heinz  says,  the  rusty  old  iron  must  lie  by 
while  the  new  steel  does  the  work.  It  is  quiet  that 
I  need.  It  is  joy  enough  for  me  to  see  what  she 
has  made  you,  and  all  around.  Ah!  Stine,  my 
y  white  dove,  I  knew  thine  was  a  wise  head  ;  but  Avhen 
I  left  thee,  gentle  little  frightened,  fluttering  thing, 
how  little  could  I  have  thought  that  aU  alone,  un- 
aided, thou  wouldst  have  kept  that  little  head  above 
water,  and  made  thy  son  work  out  all  these  changes 
— thy  doing — and  so  I  know  they  are  good  and 
seemly.  I  see  thou  hast  made  him  clerkly,  quick- 
witted, and  yet  a  good  knight.  Ah !  thou  didst  tell 
me  oft  that  our  lonely  pride  was  not  high  nor  wor- 
thy fame.     Stine,  how  didst  do  it  ? " 

"  I  did  it  not,  dear  husband  ;  God  did  it  for  me. 
He  gave  the  boys  the  loving,  true  tempers  that 
worked  out  the  rest !  He  shielded  them  and  me  in 
our  days  of  peril." 


DOVE  m  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  415 

"  Yes,  father,"  added  Ebbo,  "  Providence  guarded 
us ;  but  above  all,  our  chief  blessing  has  been  the 
mother  who  has  made  one  of  us  a  holy  saint,  and 
taught  the  other  to  seek  after  him !  Father  I  am 
glad  you  see  how  great  has  been  the  work  of  the 
Dove  you  brought  to  the  Eagle's  Kest.** 

\ 


416  DOVB  in  THE  UAQLE'S  NEST. 


CHAPTER  XXY. 


THE    STAB   AND    THE    SPARK. 


The  yeab  1531  has  begun,  and  Schloss  Adlerstein 
remains  in  its  strength  on  the  mountain  side,  but 
with  a  look  of  cultivation  on  its  environs  such  as 
would  have  amazed  Kunigunde.  Yines  run  up 
trellises  against  the  rocks ;  pot-herbs  and  flowers 
nestle  in  the  nooks ;  out-buildings  cluster  around  it ; 
and  even  the  grim  old  keep  has  a  range  of  buildings 
connected  with  it,  as  if  the  household  had  entirely 
outgrown  the  capacities  of  the  square  tower. 

Yet  the  old  hall  is  still  the  chief  place  of  assem- 
bly, and  now  that  it  has  been  wainscoted,  with  a 
screen  of  carved  wood  to  shut  off  the  draughty  pas- 
sages, and  a  stove  of  bright  tiles  to  increase  the 
warmth,  it  is  far  more  cheerful.  Moreover,  a  win- 
dow has  been  opened  showing  the  rich  green  mea- 
dow below,  with  the  bridge  over  the  Braunwasser, 
and  the  little  church,  with  a  spire  of  pierced  lace- 
work,  and  white  cottages  peeping  out  of  the  retreat- 
ing forest. 

That  is  the  window  which  the  lady  baroness 
loves.  See  her  there,  the  lovely  old  lady  of  seventy- 
five — yes,  lovelier  than  ever,  for  her  sweet  brown 
eyes  have  the  same  pensive,  clear  beauty,  enchanced 


DO VE  IN  THE  EAGLE 'S  NEST.  417 

by  tlie  snowy  whiteness  of  her  hair,  of  which  a 
soft  braid  shows  over  the  pure  pale  brow  beneath 
the  white  band,  and  sweeping  black  veil,  that  she 
has  worn  by  right  for  twenty  years.  But  the  slight 
form  is  active  and  brisk,  and  there  are  ready  smiles 
and  looks  of  interest  for  the  pretty  fair-haired  maid- 
ens, three  in  number,  who  run  in  and  out  from  their 
household  avocations  to  appeal  to  the  "  dear  grand- 
mother," mischievously  to  tell  of  the  direful  yawns 
proceeding  from  brothers  Ebbo  and  Gottfried  over 
their  studies  with  their  tutor,  or  to  gaze  from  the 
window  and  wonder  if  the  father,  with  the  two 
brothers,  Friedel  Max  and  Kasimir,  will  return  from 
XJlm  in  time  for  the  "  midday  eating." 

Ah!  there  they  are.  Quick-eyed  Yittoria  has 
seen  the  cavalcade  first,  and  dances  off  to  tell  Ermen- 
trude  and  Stine  time  enough  to  prepare  their  last 
batch  of  fritters  for  the  newcomers;  Ebbo  and 
Gotz  rush  headlong  down  the  hillside ;  and  the 
lady  baroness  lays  down  her  distaff,  and  gazes  with 
eyes  of  satisfied  content  at  the  small  party  of 
horsemen  climbing  up  the  footpath.  Then,  when 
they  have  wound  out  of  sight  round  a  rock,  she 
moves  out  toward  the  hall-door,  with  a  light,  quick 
step,  for  never  yet  has  she  resigned  her  great  en- 
joyment, that  of  greeting  her  son  on  the  steps  of 
the  porch — those  steps  where  she  once  met  such  fear- 
ful news,  but  where  that  memory  has  been  effaced 
by  many  a  cheerful  welcome. 

There,  then,  she  stands,  amid  the  bright  throng 
of  grandchildren,  while  the   baron    and  his  sons 


418  I>0 VE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

spring  from  their  horses  and  come  up  to  her.  The 
baron  doffs  his  Spanish  hat,  bends  the  knee,  kisses 
her  hand,  and  receives  her  kiss  on  his  brow,  with 
the  fervor  of  a  Hfe-devotion,  before  he  turns  to 
accept  the  salutation  of  his  daughters,  and  then 
takes  her  hand,  with  pretty  affectionate  ceremony, 
to  hand  her  back  to  her  seat.  A  few  words  pass 
between  them.  "No,  motherling,"  he  says,  "I 
signed  it  not ;  I  will  tell  you  all  by-and-by." 

And  then  the  midday  meal  is  served  for  the 
whole  household,  as  of  old,  with  the  salt-cellar  in 
the  middle,  but  with  a  far  larger  company  above  it 
than  when  first  we  saw  it.  The  seven  young  folks 
preserve  a  decorous  silence,  save  when  Fraulein 
Ermen trade's  cookeries  are  good-naturedly  compli- 
mented by  her  father,  or  when  Baron  Friedmund 
Maximilianus  breaks  out  with  some  wonderful  fact 
about  new  armor  seen  at  Ulm.  He  is  a  handsome, 
fair,  flaxen-haired  young  man — ^like  the  old  Adler- 
steins,  say  the  elder  people — and  full  of  honest 
gayety  and  good  nature,  the  special  pride  of  his 
sisters ;  and  no  sooner  is  the  meal  over,  than,  with  a* 
formal  entreaty  for  dismissal,  all  the  seven,  and  all 
the  dogs,  move  off  together  to  that  favorite  gather- 
ing-place round  the  stove,  where  all  their  merry 
tongues  are  let  loose  together. 

To  them,  the  Herr  Yater  and  the  Frau  Gross- 
mutter  seem  nearly  of  the  same  age,  and  of  the 
same  generation ;  and  verily  the  eighteen  years 
between  the  mother  and  son  have  dwindled  into  a 
very  small  difference  even  in  appearance,  and  a 


DO  VE  m  THE  EAGLE '8  NEST.  419 

lesser  one  in  feeling.  She  is  a  youthful,  beautiful 
old  lady ;  he  a  grave,  spare,  worn,  elderly  man,  in 
his  full  strength,  but  with  many  a  trace  of  care  and 
thought,  and  far  more  of  silver  than  of  brown  in  his 
thin  hair  and  pointed  beard,  and  with  a  melancholy 
thoughtfulness  in  his  clear  brown  eyes — all  well 
corresponding  with  the  gravity  of  the  dress  in 
which  he  has  been  meeting  the  burghers  of  Ulm ;  a 
black  velvet  suit — only  relieved  by  his  small  white 
lace  ruff,  and  the  ribbon  and  jewel  of  the  Golden 
Fleece,  the  only  other  approach  to  ornament  that  he 
wears  being  that  ring  long  ago  twisted  off  the 
Emperor  Maximilian's  chain.  But  now,  as  he  has 
bowed  off  the  chaplain  to  his  study,  and  excused 
himself  from  aiding  his  two  gentlemen-squires  in 
consuming  their  krug  of  beer,  and  hands  his  mother 
to  her  favorite  nook  in  the  sunny  window,  taking 
his  seat  by  her  side,  his  features  assume  an  expres- 
sion of  repose  and  relaxation  as  if  here  indeed  were 
his  true  home.  He  has  chosen  his  seat  in  full  view 
of  a  picture  that  hangs  on  the  wainscoted  wall,  near 
his  mother — a  picture  whose  pure  ethereal  tinting,  of 
color  limpid  as  the  rainbow,  yet  rich  as  the  most 
glowing  flower-beds ;  and  its  soft  lovely  jt?^^^,  and 
rounded  outlines,  prove  it  to  be  no  produce  even  of 
one  of  the  great  German  artists  of  the  time,  but  to 
have  been  wrought,  under  an  Italian  sky,  by  such  a 
hand  as  left  us  the  marvelous  smile  of  Mona  Lisa. 
It  represents  two  figures,  one-  unmistakably  himself 
whexv.  in  the  prime  of  life,  his  brow  and  cheeks 
ctnfurrowed,  and  his  haiy  still  thick,  shining  brown. 


420  I>0  VE  m  TEE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

but  with  the  same  grave  earnestness  of  the  dark  eye 
that  came  with  the  early  sense  of  responsibility,  and 
with    the  first  sorrow    of  his  youth.     The  other 
figure,  one  on  which  the  painter  evidently  loved  to 
d  ivell,  is  of  a  lady,  so  young  that  she  might  almost 
pass  for  his  daughter,  except  for  the  peculiar,  tender 
sweetness  that  could  only   become  the  wife  and 
mother.     Fair  she  is  as  snow,  with  scarce  a  deepen- 
ing of  the  rose  on  cheek,  or  even  lip,  fragile  and 
(transparent  as  a  spiritual  form,  and  with  a  light  in 
ibhe  blue  eyes,  and  a  grace  in  the  soft  fugitive  smile, 
/that  scarce  seems  to  belong  to  earth  ;  a  beauty  not 
/  exactly  of  feature,  but  rather  the  pathetic  loveliness 
/    of  calm  fading  away — as  if  she  were  already  melt- 
/     ing  into  the  clear  blue  sky  with   the  horizon  of 
I      golden  light,  that  the  wondrous  power  of  art  has 
/        made  to  harmonize  with,  but  not  efface,  her  blue 
dress,  golden  hair,  white  coif,  and  fair  skin.     It  is  as 
1        if  she   belonged  to  that  sky,  and  only   tarried  as 
\       unable  to  detach  herself  from  the  clasp  of  the  strong 
\      hand  round    and  in    which  both  her    hands  are 
\     twined ;  and  though  the  light  in  her  face  may  be 
from  heaven,  yet  the  whole  countenance  is  fixed  in 
one  absorbed,  almost  worshiping  gaze  of  her  hus- 
band, with  a  wistful  simplicity  and  innocence  on 
devotion,  like  the  absorption  of  a  loving  animal,  to 
whom  its  master's  presence  is  bliss  and  sunshine.     It 
is  a  picture  to  make  light  in  a  dark  place,  and  that 
sweet  face  receives  a  loving  glance,  nay,  an  abso- 
lutely reverent  bend  of  the  knightly  head  as  the 
baron  seats  himself. 


no  VE  IN  TBS  EAGLE '8  NEST,  421 

"  So  it  was  as  we  feared,  and  this  Schmalkaldic 
League  did  not  suit  thy  sense  of  loyalty,  my  son  ? " 
she  asks,  reading  his  features  anxiously. 

"  'No,  mother.  I  ever  feared  that  further  pressure 
would  drive  our  friends  beyond  the  line  where  begin 
schism  and  rebellion ;  and  it  seems  to  me  that  the 
moment  is  come  when  I  must  hold  me  still,  or  trans- 
gress mine  own  sense  of  duty.  I  must  endure  the 
displeasure  of  many  I  love  and  respect." 

"  Surely,  my  son,  they  have  known  you  too  long 
and  too  well  not  to  respect  your  motives,  and  know 
that  conscience  is  first  with  you." 

"Scarce  may  such  confidence  be  looked  for, 
mother,  from  the  most  part,  who  esteem  every  man 
a  traitor  to  the  cause  if  he  defend  it  not  precisely 
in  the  fashion  of  their  oWn  party.  But  I  hear  that 
the  king  of  France  has  offered  himself  as  an  ally, 
and  that  Dr.  Luther,  together  with  others  of  our 
best  divines,  have  thereby  been  startled  into  doubts 
of  the  lawfulness  of  the  League." 

"  And  what  think  you  of  doing,  my  son  ? " 

"  I  shall  endeavor  to  wait  until  such  time  as  the 
much-needed  General  Council  may  proclaim  the 
ancient  truth,  and  enable  us  to  avouch  it  without 
disunion.  Into  schism  I  will  not  be  drawn.  I  have 
held  truth  all  my  life  in  the  Church,  nor  will  I  part 
from  her  now !  If  intrigues  again  should  prevail, 
then,  Heaven  help  us  !  Meantime,  mother,  the  best 
we  can,  as  has  ever  been  your  war-cry." 

"  And  much  has  been  won  for  us.  Here  are  the 
little  maidens,  who,  save  Yittoria,  would  never  have 


422  J)0  VE  IN  TBB  MAGLE'B  NM8T, 

been  scholars,  reading  the  Holy  Word  daily  in  their 
own  tongue." 

"  Ach,  I  had  not  told  you,  mother !  I  have  the 
court  secretary's  answer  this  day  about  that  com- 
mand in  the  kaiser's  guards  that  my  dear  old  master 
had  promised  to  his  godson." 

"  Another  put-off  with  Flemish  courtesy,  I  see  by 
thy  face,  Ebbo." 

"  IS'ot  quite  that,  mother.  The  command  is  ready 
for  the  Baron  Friedmund  Maximilianus  von  Adler- 
stein  Wildschloss,  and  all  the  rest  of  it,  on  the  un- 
derstanding that  he  has  been  bred  up  free  from  all 
taint  of  the  new  doctrine." 

"  ]^ew  ?    ]^ay,  it  is  the  oldest  of  all  doctrine." 

"  Even  so.  As  I  ever  said.  Dr.  Luther  hath  been 
setting  forth  in  greater  clearness  and  fullness  what 
our  blessed  Friedel  and  I  learned  at  your  knee,  and 
my  young  ones  have  learned  from  babyhood  of  the 
true  Catholic  doctrine.  Yet  I  may  not  call  my 
son's  faith  such  as  the  kaiser's  Spanish  conscience- 
keepers  would  have  it,  and  so  the  boy  must  e'en 
tarry  at  home  till  there  be  work  for  his  stout  arm  to 
do." 

"  He  seems  little  disappointed.  His  laugh  comes 
ringing  the  loudest  of  all." 

The  junker  is  more  of  a  boy  at  fcwo-and-twenty 
than  I  ever  recollect  myself  !  He  lacks  not  sense 
nor  wit,  but  a  fray  or  a  feast,  a  chase  or  a  dance, 
seem  to  suffice  him  at  an  age  when  I  had  long  been 
dwelling  on  matters  of  moment." 

"  Thou  wast  left  to  be  thine  own  pilot :  he  is  but 


no  VE  m  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST  423 

one  of  thy  gay  crew,  and  thus  even  these  stirring 
times  touch  him.  not  so  deeply  as  thou  wert  affected 
by  thine  own  choice  in  life  between  disorderly  free- 
dom and  honorable  restraint." 

"I thought  of  that  choice  to-day,  mother,  as  I 
crossed  the  bridge,  and  looked  at  the  church ;  and 
more  than  ever  thankful  did  I  feel  that  our  blessed 
Friedel,  having  aided  me  over  that  one  decisive 
pass,  was  laid  to  rest,  his  tender  spirit  unvexed  by 
the  shocks  and  divisions  that  have  wrenched  me 
hither  and  thither." 

"  E^ay ;  not  hither  and  thither.  Ever  hadst  thou  a 
resolute  purpose  and  aim." 

"  Ever  failed  in  by  my  own  error  or  that  of 
others — What,  thou  nestling  here,  my  little  Yittoria, 
away  from  all  yonder  prattle  ?  " 

"  Dear  father,  if  I  may,  I  love  far  best  to  hear  you 
and  the  grandmother  talk." 

"Hear  the  child!  She  alone  hath  your  face, 
mother,  or  FriedePs  eyes !  Is  it  that  thou  wouldst 
be  like  thy  noble  Koman  grandmother,  the  Marchesa 
di  Pescara,  that  makes  thee  seek  our  grave  company, 
little  one  ? " 

"  I  always  long  to  hear  you  talk  of  her,  and  of  the 
Italian  days,  dear  father,  and  how  you  won  this 
noble  jewel  of  yours." 

"  Ah,  child,  that  was  before  those  times  !  It  was 
the  gift  of  good  Kaiser  Max  at  his  godson's  christen- 
ing, when  he  filled  your  sweet  mother  with  pretty 
spite  by  persuading  her  that  it  was  a  little  golden 
bear-skin." 


424  DO  VE  IN  TBE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

"  Tell  her  how  you  had  gained  it,  my  son." 
"  By  vaporing,  child  ;  and  by  the  dull  pride  of  my 
neighbors.  Heard' st  thou  never  of  the  siege  of 
Padua,  when  we  had  Bayard,  the  best  knight  in 
Europe,  and  five  hundred  Frenchmen  for  our  allies? 
Our  artillery  had  made  a  breach,  and  the  kaiser  re- 
quested the  French  knights  to  lead  the  storm, 
whereto  they  answered,  Well  and  good,  but  our 
German  nobles  must  share  the  assault,  and  not 
leave  them  to  fight  with  no  better  backers  than  the 
hired  lanzknechts.  All  in  reason,  quoth  I,  and 
more  shame  for  us  not  to  have  been  foremost  in  our 
kaiser's  own  cause ;  but  what  said  the  rest  of  our 
misproud  chivalry  ?  They  would  never  condescend 
to  climb  a  wall  on  foot  in  company  with  lanzknechts! 
On  horseback  must  their  worships  fight,  or  not  all 
and  when  to  shame  them  I  called  myself  a  moun- 
taineer, more  used  to  climb  than  to  ride,  and 
vowed  that  I  should  esteem  it  an  honor  to  follow 
such  a  knight  as  Bayard,  were  it  on  all  fours,  then 
cast  they  my  burgher  blood  in  my  teeth,  l^ever 
saw  I  the  kaiser  so  enraged :  he  swore  that  all  the 
common  sense  in  the  empire  was  in  the  burgher 
blood,  and  that  he  would  make  me  a  knight  of  the 
noblest  order  in  Europe  to  show  how  he  esteemed  it. 
And  next  morning  he  was  gone !  So  ashamed  was 
he  of  his  own  army  that  he  rode  off  in  the  night, 
and  sent  orders  to  break  up  the  siege.  I  could  have 
torn  my  hair,  for  I  had  just  lashed  up  a  few  of  our 
nobles  to  a  better  sense  of  honor,  and  we  would  yet 
have  redeemed   our    name !     And    after    all,    the 


DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  425 

chapter  of  proud  Flemings  would  never  have  ad- 
mitted me  had  not  the  heralds  hunted  up  that  the 
Sorels  were  gentlemen  of  blood  and  coat  armor  long 
ago  at  Liege.  I  am  glad  my  father  lived  to  see 
that  proved,  mother.  He  could  not  honor  thee 
more  than  he  did,  but  he  would  have  been  sorely 
grieved  had  I  been  rejected.  He  often  thought  me 
a  mechanical  burgher,  as  it  was." 

"  Not  quite  so,  my  son.  He  never  failed  to  be 
proud  of  thy  deeds,  even  when  he  did  not  under- 
stand them ;  but  this,  and  the  grandson's  birth,  were 
the  crowning  joys  of  his  life." 

"  Yes,  those  were  glad  triumphant  years,  take 
them  all  in  all,  ere  the  emperor  sent  me  to  act  am- 
bassador in  Kome,  and  we  left  you  the  two  elder 
little  girls  and  the  boy  to  take  care  of.  My  dear 
little  Thekla !  She  had  a  foreboding  that  she 
might  never  see  those  children  more,  yet  would  she 
have  pined  her  heart  away  more  surely  had  I  left 
her  at  home !  I  never  was  absent  a  week  but  I 
found  her  wasted  with  watching  for  me." 

"  It  was  those  weary  seven  years  of  Italy  that 
changed  thee  most,  my  son." 

"  Apart  from  you,  mother,  and  knowing  you  now 
indeed  to  be  widowed,  and  with  on  the  one  hand 
^  such  contradictory  commands  from  the  emperor  as 
made  me  sorely  ashamed  of  myself,  of  my  nation, 
and  of  the  man  whom  I  loved  and  esteemed  person- 
ally the  most  on  earth,  yet  bound  there  by  his  ex- 
press command,  while  I  saw  my  tender  wife's  health 
wasting  in  the  climate  day  by  day !    Yet    still, 


426  DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

while  most  she  gasped  for  a  breath  of  Swabian  hills, 
she  ever  declared  it  would  kiU  her  outright  to  send 
her  from  me.  And  thus  it  went  on  till  I  laid  her  in 
the  stately  church  of  her  own  patroness.  Then  how 
it  would  have  fared  with  me  and  the  helpless  little 
ones  I  know  not,  but  for  thy  noble  god-mother,  my 
Yittoria,  the  wise  and  ready  helper  of  all  in  trouble, 
the  only  friend  thy  mother  had  made  at  Kome,  and 
who  had  been  able,  from  all  her  heights  of  learning 
and  accomplishment,  to  value  my  Thekla's  golden 
soul  in  its  simplicity.  Even  then,  when  too  late, 
came  one  of  the  kaiser's  kindest  letters,  recalling 
me — a  letter  whose  every  word  I  would  have  paid 
for  with  a  drop  of  my  own  blood  six  weeks  before ! 
and  which  he  had  only  failed  to  send  because  his 
head  was  running  on  the  plan  of  that  gorgeous 
tomb  where  he  is  not  buried !  "Well,  at  least  it 
brought  us  home  to  you  again  once  more,  mother, 
and,  where  you  are,  comfort  never  has  been  utterly 
absent  from  me.  And  then,  coming  from  the  will- 
ful gloom  of  Pope  Leo's  court  into  our  Germany, 
streamed  over  by  the  rays  of  Luther's  light,  it  was 
as  if  a  new  world  of  hope  were  dawning,  as  if  truth 
would  no  longer  be  mufl&ed,  and  the  young  would 
grow  up  to  a  world  far  better  and  purer  than  the 
old  had  ever  seen.  What  trumpet-calls  those  were 
and  how  welcome  was  the  voice  of  the  true  Catholic 
faith  no  longer  stifled !  And  my  dear  old  kaiser, 
with  his  clear  eyes,  his  unfettered  mind — he  felt  the 
power  and  truth  of  those  theses.  He  bade  the 
elector  of  Saxony  well  to  guard  the  monk  Luther 


DO  VE  IN  THE  EA  OLE 'S  NEST.  427 

as  a  treasure.  Ah !  had  he  been  a  younger  man,  or 
had  he  been  more  firm  and  resolute,  able  to 
act  as  well  as  think  for  himself,  things  might  have 
gone  otherwise  with  the  church.  He  could  think, 
but  could  not  act ;  and  now  we  have  a  man  who 
acts,  but  will  not  think.  It  may  have  been  a  good 
day  for  our  German  reputation  among  foreign 
princes  when  Charles  Y.  put  on  the  crown ;  but 
only  two  days  in  my  life  have  been  as  mournful  to 
me  as  that  when  I  stood  by  Kaiser  Max's  death-bed 
at  Wells,  and  knew  that  generous,  loving,  fitful 
spirit  was  passing  away  from  the  earth!  I^ever 
owned  I  friend  I  loved  so  well  as  Kaiser  Max/ 
JSTor  has  any  emperor  done  so  much  for  this  our 
dear  land." 

"  The  young  emperor  never  loved  thee." 
"  He  might  have  treated  me  as  one  who  could  be 
useful,  but  he  never  forgave  me  for  shaking  hands 
with  Luther  at  the  Diet  of  Worms.  I  knew  it  was 
all  over  with  my  court  favor  after  I  had  joined  in 
escorting  the  doctor  out  of  the  city.  And  the  next 
thing  was  that  Georg  of  Freundsberg  and  his 
friends  proclaimed  me  a  bigoted  papist  because  I 
did  my  utmost  to  keep  my  troops  out  of  the  devil's 
holiday  at  the  sack  of  Eome.  It  has  ever  been  my 
lot  to  be  in  disgrace  with  one  side  or  the  other ! 
Here  is  my  daughter's  marriage  hindered  on  the 
one  hand,  my  son's  promotion  checked  on  the  other, 
because  I  have  a  conscience  of  my  own,  and  not  of 
other  people's !  Heaven  knows  the  right  is  no  easy 
matter  to  find ;  but,  when  one  thinks  one  sees  it, 


428  DOVE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

there  is  nothing  to  be  done  but  to  guide  one's  self  by 
it,  even  if  the  rest  of  the  world  will  not  view  it,  in 
the  same  light." 

"  JS'othing  else !  I  doubt  me  whether  it  be  ever 
easy  to  see  the  veritably  right  course  while  still 
struggling  in  the  midst.  That  is  for  after  ages, 
which  behold  things  afar  off ;  but  each  man  must 
needs  follow  his  own  principle  in  an  honest  and 
good  heart,  and  assuredly  God  will  guide  him 
to  work  out  some  good  end,  or  hinder  some  evil 
one." 

"  Ay,  mother.  Each  party  may  guard  one  side  or 
other  of  the  truth  in  all  honesty  and  faithfulness ; 
he  who  cannot  with  his  whole  heart  cast  in  his  lot 
with  either — he  is  apt  to  serve  no  purpose,  and  to  be 
scorned." 

"I^ay,  Ebbo,  may  he  not  be  a  witness  to  the 
higher  and  more  perfect  truth  than  either  party 
have  conceived  ?  Nor  is  inaction  always  needful, 
that  which  is  right  toward  either  side  still  reveals 
itself  at  the  due  moment,  whether  it  be  to  act  or  to 
hold  still.  And  verily,  Ebbo,  what  thou  didst  say 
even  now  has  set  me  on  a  strange  thought  of  mine 
own  dream,  that  which  heralded  the  birth  of  thy- 
self and  thy  brother.  As  thou  knowest,  it  seemed 
to  me  that  I  was  watching  two  sparkles  from  the 
extinguished  needfire  wheel.  One  rose  aloft  and 
shone  as  a  star." 

"My  guiding-star!" 

"  The  other  fulfilled  those  words  of  the  Wise  Man. 
It  shone  and  ran  to  and  fro  in  the  grass.    And 


DO  VE  IN  THE  EA  GLE  *S  NEST.  429 

surely,  my  Ebbo,  thy  mother  may  feel  that,  in  all 
these  dark  days  of  perplexity  and  trial,  the  spark  of 
light  hath  ever  shone  and  drawn  its  trail  of  bright- 
ness in  the  gloom,  even  though  the  way  was  long, 
and  seemed  uncertain." 

"  The  mother  who  ever  fondled  me  will  think  so, 
it  may  be !  But,  ah !  she  had  better  pray  that  the 
light  be  clearer,  and  that  I  may  not  fall  utterly 
short  of  the  star ! " 

Travelers  in  Wurtemburg  may  perhaps  turn  aside 
from  glorious  old  Ulm,  and  the  memories  of  the 
battlefields  around  it,  to  the  romantic  country  round 
the  Swabian  mountains,  through  which  descend  the 
tributaries  of  the  Danube.  Here  they  may  think 
themselves  fortunate  if  they  come  upon  a  green 
valley,  with  a  bright  mountain  torrent  dashing 
through  it,  fresh  from  the  lofty  mountain,  with  ter- 
raced sides  that  rise  sheer  above.  An  old 
bridge,  a  mill,  and  a  neat  German  village  lie  clus- 
tered in  the  valley  ;  a  seignorial  mansion  peeps  out 
of  the  forest  glades  ;  and  a  lovely  church,  of  rather 
late  Gothic,  but  beautifully  designed,  attracts  the 
eye  so  soon  as  it  can  be  persuaded  to  quit  the  ro- 
mantic outline  of  the  ruined  baronial  castle  high  up 
on  one  of  the  mountain  ledges.  Reports  declare 
that  there  are  tombs  in  the  church  well  worth  in- 
spection. You  seek  out  an  old  venerable  blue- 
coated  peasant  who  has  charge  of  the  church. 

"  "What  is  yonder  castle  'i " 

"  It  is  the  castle  of  Adlerstein." 


430  -DO  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

"  Are  the  family  still  extant  ? " 

"Yea,  yea;  they  built  yonder  house  when  the 
schloss  became  ruinous.  They  have  always  been 
here." 

The  church  is  very  beautiful  in  its  details,  the 
carved  work  of  the  east  end  and  pulpit  especially 
so,  but  nothing  is  so  attractive  as  the  altar  tomb  in 
the  chantry  chapel.  It  is  a  double  one,  holding 
not,  as  usual,  the  recumbent  eflBgies  of  a  husband 
and  mfe,  but  of  two  knights  in  armor. 

"  Who  are  these,  good  friend  ? " 

"  They  are  the  good  barons,  Ebbo  and  Friedel." 

Father  and  son  they  appear  to  be,  killed  at  the 
same  time  in  some  fatal  battle,  for  the  white  marble 
face  of  one  is  round  with  youth,  no  hair  on  lip  or 
chin,  and  with  a  lovely  peaceful  solemnity,  almost 
cheerfulness,  in  the  expression.  The  other,  a 
bearded  man,  has  the  glory  of  old  age  in  his  worn 
features,  beautiful  and  restful,  but  it  is  as  if  one  had 
gone  to  sleep  in  the  light  of  dawn,  the  other  in  the 
last  glow  of  sunset.  Their  armor  and  their  crests 
are  alike,  but  the  young  one  bears  the  eagle  shield 
alone,  while  the  elder  has  the  same  bearing  repeated 
upon  an  escutcheon  of  pretense ;  the  young  man's 
hands  are  clasped  over  a  harp,  those  of  the  other 
over  a  Bible,  and  the  elder  wears  the  insignia  of  the 
order  of  the  Golden  Fleece.  They  are  surely  father 
and  son,  a  maiden  knight  and  tried  warrior  who  fell 
together  ? 

"  No,"  the  guide  shakes  his  head  ;  "  they  are  twin 
brothers,  the  good  barons,  Ebbo  and  Friedel,  who 


DO  VE  IN  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  431 

were  born  when  their  father  had  been  taken  captive 
by  the  Saracens  while  on  a  crusade.  Baron  Friedel 
was  slain  by  the  Turks  at  the  bridge  foot,  and  his 
brother  built  the  church  in  his  memory,  ^e  first 
planted  vines  upon  the  mountains,  and  freed  the 
peasants  from  the  lord's  dues  on  their  flax.  And  it 
is  true  that  the  two  brothers  may  still  be  seen  hov- 
ering on  the  mountain-side  in  the  mist  at  sunset, 
sometimes  one,  sometimes  both." 

You  turn  with  a  smile  to  the  inscription,  sure 
that  those  windows,  those  porches,  that  armor, 
never  were  of  crusading  date,  and  ready  to  refute 
the  old  peasant.  You  spell  out  the  upright  Gothic 
letters  around  the  cornice  of  the  tomb,  and  you 
read,  in  mediaeval  Latin  .• 

"  Orate  pro  Anima  Friedmundis  Equitis  Baronis 
Adlersteini.     A.  D.  mccGCXciii.^^ 

Then  turn  to  the  other  side  and  read : 

"  Hie  jacet  Eherardus  Eques  Baro  Adlersteini, 
A.  D.  mdxliii.  DemumP 

Yes,  the  guide  is  right.  They  are  brothers,  with 
well-nigh  a  lifetime  between  their  deaths.  Is  that 
the  meaning  of  that  strange  Demum  f 

Few  of  the  other  tombs  are  worth  attention,  each 
lapsing  further  into  the  bad  taste  of  later  ages ;  yet 
there  is  one  still  deserving  admiration,  placed  close 
to  the  head  of  that  of  the  two  barons.    It  is  the 


433  DOVE  m  THE  EAGLE'S  NE8T. 

Q^gy  of  a  lady,  aged  and  serene,  with  a  delicately- 
carved  face  beneath  her  stiff  head-gear.  Surely 
this  monument  was  erected  somewhat  later,  for  the 
inscription  is  in  German.  Stiff,  contracted,  hard  to 
read,  but  this  is  the  rendering  of  it : 

''Here  lies  Chi'istina  Sorely  wife  of  Eherhard^  XXth 
Baron  von  Adlerstein,  and  mother  of  the  Barons 
Eherho.rd  and  Friedmund.  She  fell  asleep  two  days 
before  her  son,  on  the  feast  of  St  John,  mdxliii. 

''  Her  children  shall  rise  ujp  and  call  her  hlessed. 

"  Erected  with  full  hearts  hy  her  grandson,  Baron 
Friedmund  Maximilianus,  amd  his  hrothers  am^d  sis- 
ters.   Farewell^ 


THE  END. 


A.  L.  BURT'S  PUBLICATIONS 

For  Young  People 

BY  POPULAR  WRITERS, 

97-99-101  Reade  Street,  New  York. 


Bonnie  Prince  Charlie  :  A  Tale  of  Fontenoy  and  Culloden.  By 
Q.  A.  Henty.  Wit?i  12  full-page  Illustrations  by  Gokdon 
Browne.     12mo,  cloth,  price  $1.00. 

The  adventures  of  the  son  of  a  Scotch  oflBcer  in  French  service. 
The  boy,  brought  up  by  a  Glasgow  bailie,  is  a; rested  for  aiding  a 
Jacobite  agent,  escapes,  is  wrecked  on  the  French  coast,  reaches 
Paris,  and  serves  with  the  French  army  at  Dettingen.  He  kills 
his  father's  foe  in  a  duel,  and  escaping  to  the  coast,  shares  the 
adventures  of  Prince  Charlie,  but  finally  settles  happily  in  Scot- 
land. 


'  Ronald,  the  hero,  is  very  like  the  hero  of  '  Quentin  Durward.'  The  lad's 
„  imey  across  France,  and  his  hairbreadth  escapes,  make  up  as  good  a  nar- 
rative of  the  kind  as  we  have  ever  read.    For  freshness  of  treatment  and 


journey  across  France,  and  his  hairbreadth  escapes,  make  up  as  good  a  nar^ 
rati ve  of  the  kind  as  we  have  ever  read.    For  freshness  of  treat        " 
variety  of  incident  Mr.  Henty  has  surpassed  himself."— -Spectof or. 

With  Clive  in  India ;  or,  the   Beginnings  of  an  Empire.      By 

G.  A.  Henty.     With   12   full-page   Illustrations  by  Gordon 

Browne.     12uio,  cloth,  price  $1.00. 

The  period  between  the  landing  of  Clive  as  a  young  writer  in 
India  and  the  close  of  his  career  was  critical  and  eventful  in  the 
extreme.  At  its  commencement  the  English  were  traders  existing 
on  sufferance  of  the  native  princes.  At  its  close  they  were  masters 
of  Bengal  and  -f  the  greater  part  of  Southern  India.  The  author 
has  given  a  full  and  accurate  account  of  the  events  of  that  stirring 
time,  and  battles  and  sieges  follow  each  other  in  rapid  succession, 
while  he  combines  with  his  narrative  a  tale  of  daring  and  adven- 
ture, which  gives  a  lifelike  interest  to  the  volume. 

"  He  has  taken  a  period  of  Indian  history  of  the  most  vital  importance, 
and  he  has  embroidered  on  the  historical  facts  a  story  which  of  itself  is  deeply 
interesting.  Young  people  assuredly  will  be  delighted  with  the  volume."— 
Scotsman. 

The  Lion  of  the  North  :  A  Tale  of  Gustavus  Adolphus  and  the 
Wars  of  Religion.     By  G.  A.  Henty.     With  full-page  Illus- 
trations by  John  Schonberg.     12mo,  cloth,  price  $1.00. 
In  this  story  Mr.  Henty  gives  the  history  of  the  first  part  of  the 
Thirty  Years'  War.     Tlje  issue  had  its  importance,  which  has  ex- 
tended to  the  present  day,  as   it   established  religious   freedom 
in  Germany.     The  army  of  the  chivalrous  king    of  Sweden  was 
largely  composed  of  Scotchmen,  and  among  these  was  the  hero  of 
the  story. 

"  The  tale  is  a  eleven  and  instructive  piece  of  history,  and  as  boys  may  be 
trusted  to  read  it  conscientiously,  they  can  hardly  fail  to  be  profited."— Time*-. 


A.  L.  BTJRT'S  PUBLICATIONS. 


The  Dragon  and  the  Raven ;  or,  The  Days  of  King  Alfred.  By 
G.  A.  Henty.  With  full-page  Illustrations  by  C.  J.  Stani- 
LAND,  R.I.     12mo,  cloth,  price  $1.00. 

In  this  story  the  author  gives  an  account  of  the  fierce  struggle 
between  Saxon  and  Dane  for  supremacy  in  England,  and  presents 
a  vivid  picture  of  the  misery  and  ruin  to  which  the  country  was 
reduced  by  the  ravages  of  the  sea- wolves.  The  hero,  a  young 
Saxon  thane,  takes  part  in  all  the  battles  fought  by  King  Alfred. 
He  is  driven  from  his  home,  takes  to  the  sea  and  resists  the  Danes 
on  their  own  element,  and  being  pursued  by  them  up  the  Seine, 
is  present  at  the  long  and  desperate  siege  of  Paris. 

"  Treated  in  a  manner  most  attractive  to  the  boyish  resider,''''— Athenaeum. 

The  Young  Carthaginian :  A  Story  of  the  Times  of  Hannibal. 
By  G.  A.  Henty.  With  full-page  Illustrations  by  C.  J.  Stani- 
LAND,  R.I.     12mo,  cloth,  price  $1.00. 

Boys  reading  the  history  of  the  Punic  Wars  have  seldom  a  keen 
appreciation  of  the  merits  of  the  contest.  That  it  was  at  first  a 
struggle  for  empire,  and  afterward  for  existence  on  the  part  of 
Carthage,  that  Hannibal  was  a  great  and  skillful  general,  that  he 
defeated  the  Romans  at  Trebia,  Lake  Trasimenus,  and  Cannae, 
and  all  but  took  Rome,  represents  pretty  nearly  the  sum  total  of 
their  knowledge.  To  let  them  know  more  about  this  momentous 
struggle  for  the  empire  of  the  world  Mr.  Henty  has  written  this 
story,  which  not  only  gives  in  graphic  style  a  brilliant  descrip- 
tion of  a  most  interesting  period  of  history,  but  is  a  tale  of  ex- 
citing adventure  sure  to  secure  the  interest  of  the  reader. 

"  Well  constructed  and  vividly  told.  From  first  to  last  nothing  stays  the 
interest  of  the  narrative.  It  bears  us  along  as  on  a  {stream  whose  current 
varies  in  direction,  but  never  loses  its  force.''''— Saturday  Review. 

In  Freedom's  Cause  :  A  Story  of  Wallace  and  Bruce.  ByG.  A. 
Henty.  With  full-page  Illustrations  by  Gordon  Browne. 
12mo,  cloth,  price  $1.00. 

In  this  story  the  author  relates  the  stirring  tale  of  the  Scottish 
War  of  Independence,  The  extraordinary  valor  and  personal 
prowess  of  Wallace  and  Bruce  rival  the  deeds  of  the  mythical 
heroes  of  chivalry,  and  indeed  at  one  time  Wallace  was  ranked 
with  these  legendary  personages.  The  researches  of  modern 
historians  have  shown,  however,  that  he  was  a  living,  breathing 
man — and  a  valiant  champion.  The  hero  of  the  tale  fought  under 
both  Wallace  and  Bruce,  and  while  the  strictest  historical  accuracy 
has  been  maintained  with  respect  to  public  events,  the  work  is 
full  of  "hairbreadth  'scapes  "  and  wild  adventure. 

"  It  is  written  in  the  author's  best  style.  Full  of  the  wildest  and  most  re- 
markable achievements,  it  is  a  tale  of  great  interest,  which  a  boy,  once  he  has 
begun  it,  will  not  wiUingly  put  on  one  side." — The  Schoolmaster. 


A.  L.  BtTRT'S  PUBLICATIONS.  8 

With  Lee  in  Virginia :  A  Story  of  tlie  American  Civil  War.  By 
G.  A.  Henty.  With  full- page  Dlustrations  by  Gordon 
Browne.     13mo,  cloth,  price  $1.00. 

The  story  of  a  young  Virginian  planter,  who,  after  bravely 
proving  his  sympathy  with  the  slaves  of  brutal  masters,  serves 
with  no  less  courage  and  enthusiasm  under  Lee  and  Jackson 
through  the  most  exciting  events  of  the  struggle.  He  has  many 
hairbreadth  escapes,  is  several  times  wounded  and  twice  taken 
prisoner;  but  his  courage  and  readiness  and,  in  two  cases,  the 
devotion  of  a  black  servant  and  of  a  runaway  slave  whom  he  had 
assisted,  bring  him  safely  through  all  difficulties. 

"  One  of  the  best  stories  for  lads  which  Mr.  Henty  has  yet  written.  The 
picture  is  full  of  life  and  color,  and  the  stirring  and  romantic  incidents  are 
skillfully  blended  with  the  personal  interest  and  charm  of  the  story."— 
Standard. 

By  England's  Aid ;  or,  The  Freeing  of  the  Netherlands  (1585- 
1604).     By  G.   A.    Henty.     With  full-page  Illustrations  by 
Alfred  Pbarse,  and  Maps.     12mo,  cloth,  price  $1.00. 
The  story  of  two  English  lads  who  go  to  Holland  as  pages  in 
the  service  of  one  of  "  the  fighting  Veres."     After  many  adven- 
tures by  sea  and  land,  one  of  the  lads  finds  himself  on  board  a 
Spanish  ship  at  the  time  of  the  defeat  of  the  Armada,  and  escapes 
only  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  Corsairs.     He  is  successful  in 
getting  back  to  Spain  under  the  protection  of  a  wealthy  merchant, 
and  regains  his  native  country  after  the  capture  of  Cadiz. 

"  It  is  an  admirable  book  for  youngsters.  It  overflows  with  stirring  inci- 
dent and  exciting  adventure,  and  the  color  of  the  era  and  of  the  scene  are 
finely  reproduced.  The  illustrations  add  to  its  attractiveness."— J?osion 
Gazette. 

By  Right  of  Conquest ;  or,  With  Cortez  in  Mexico.      By  G.  A. 

Henty.     With  full-page  Illustrations  by  W.  S.  Stagey,  and 

Two  Maps.     12mo,  cloth,  price  $1.50. 

The  conquest  of  Mexico  by  a  small  band  of  resolute  men  under 
the  magnificent  leadership  of  Cortez  is  always  rightly  ranked 
among  the  most  romantic  and  daring  exploits  in  history.  With 
this  as  the  ground  work  of  his  story  Mr.  Henty  has  interwoven  the 
adventures  of  an  English  youth,  Roger  Hawkshaw,  the  sole  sur- 
vivor of  the  good  ship  Swan,  which  had  sailed  from  a  Devon  port 
to  challenge  the  mercantile  supremacy  of  the  Spaniards  in  the 
New  World.  He  is  beset  by  many  perils  among  the  natives,  but 
is  saved  by  his  own  judgment  and  strength,  and  by  the  devotion 
of  an  Aztec  princess.  At  last  by  a  ruse  he  obtains  the  protection 
of  the  Spaniards,  and  after  the  fall  of  Mexico  he  succeeds  in  re- 
gaining his  native  shore,  with  a  fortune  and  a  charming  Aztec 
bride. 

" '  By  Right  of  Conquest '  is  the  nearest  approach  to  a  perfectly  successful 
historical  tale  that  Mr.  Henty  has  yet  published."— -4codemy.  . 


A.  L.  BURT'S  PUBLICATIOXS. 


In  the  Reign  of  Terror :  The  Adventures  of  a  Westminster  Boy. 

By  G.  A.  Henty.      With  full-page  Illustrations  by  J.  Schon 

BERG.     12mo,  cloth,  price  $1.00. 

Harry  Sandwith,  a  Westminster  boy,  becomes  a  resident  at  the 
chateau  of  a  French  marquis,  and  aftt  r  various  adventures  accom- 
panies the  family  to  Paris  at  tlie  crisis  of  the  Revolution.  Im- 
prisonment and  death  reduce  tlieir  number,  and  the  hero  finds 
himself  beset  by  perils  with  the  three  young  daughters  of  the 
liouse  in  his  charge.  After  hairbreadth  escapes  they  reach  Nan- 
tes. There  the  girls  are  condemned  to  death  in  the  coflSn-ships, 
but  are  saved  by  the  unfailing  courage  of  their  boy  protector. 

"Harry  Sandwith,  the  Westminster  boy,  may  fairly  be  said  to  beat  Mr. 
Henty's  record.  His  adventures  will  delight  boys  by  the  audacity  and  peril 
they  depict.  .  .  .  The  story  is  one  of  Mr.  Henty 's  best."— -ya^urdai/ 
Review. 

With  Wolfe  in  Canada  ;  or,  The  Winning  of  a  Continent.  By 
G.  A.  Henty.  With  full-page  Illustrations  by  Gordon 
Browne.     12mo,  cloth,  price  $1.00. 

In  the  present  volume  Mr.  Henty  gives  an  account  of  the  strug- 
gle between  Britain  and  France  for  supremacy  in  the  North 
American  continent.  On  the  issue  of  this  war  depended  not  only 
the  destinies  of  North  America,  but  to  a  large  extent  those  of  the 
mother  countries  themselves.  The  fall  of  Quebec  decided  that 
the  Anglo-Saxon  race  should  predominate  in  the  New  World; 
that  Britain,  and  not  France,  should  take  the  lead  among  the 
nations  of  Europe;  and  that  English  and  American  commerce,  the 
English  language,  and  English  literature,  should  spread  right 
round  the  globe. 

"  It  is  not  only  a  lesson  in  history  as  instructively  as  it  is  graphically  told, 
but  also  a  deeply  interesting  and  often  thrilling  tale  of  adventure  and  peril  by 
flood  and  field." — Illustrated  London  News. 

True  to  the  Old  Flag :  A  Tale  of  the  American  War  of  Inde- 
pendence.    By  G.  A.  Henty.     With  full-page  Illustrations  by 
Gordon  Browne.     12mo,  cloth,  price  $1.00. 
In  this  story  the  author  has  gone  to  the  accounts  of  oflBcers  who 
took  part  in  the  conflict,  and  lads  will  find  that  in  no  war  in  which 
American  and  British  soldiers  have  been  engaged  did  they  behave 
with  greater  courage  and  good  conduct.     The  historical  portion  of 
the  book  being  accompanied  with  numerous  thrilling  adventures 
with  the  redskins  on  the  shores  of  La  e  Huron,  a  story  of  exciting 
interest  is  interwoven  with   the  general   narrative   and   carried 
through  the  book. 

"  Does  justice  to  the  pluck  and  determination  of  the  British  soldiers  during 
the  unfortunate  struggle  against  American  emancipation.  The  son  of  an 
American  loyalist,  who  remains  true  to  our  flag,  falls  among  the  hostile  red- 
skins in  that  very  Huron  country  which  has  been  endeared  to  us  by  the  ex- 
ploits of  Hawkeye  and  Chingachgook."— TTie  Times. 


A.  L.  BtJRT'g  PUBLICATIONS. 


The  Lion  of  St.  Mark :  A  Tale  of  Venice   in  the  Fourteenth 
Century.     By  G.  A.  Henty.     With  full-page  Illustrations  by 
GoKDON  Browne.     12mo,  cloth,  price  $1.00. 
A  story  of  Venice  at  a  period  when  her  strength  and  splendor 
were  put  to  the  severest  tests.     The  hero  displays  a  fine  sense  and 
manliness  which  carry  him  safely  through  an  atmosphere  of  in- 
trigue, crime,  and  bloodshed.     He  contributes  largely  to  the  vic- 
tories of  the  Venetians  at  Porto  d'Anzo  and  Chioggia,  and  finally 
wins  the  hand  of  the  daughter  of  one  of  the  chief  men  of  Venice. 

' '  Every  boy  should  read  '  The  Lion  of  St.  Mark.'  Mr.  Henty  has  never  pro- 
duced a  story  more  dehghtful,  more  wholesome,  or  more  vivacious." — Satuv' 
day  Revieio. 

A  Final  Reckoning^:  A  Tale  of  Bush  Life  in  Australia.  By  G.  A. 

Henty.     With   full-page   Illustrations  by   W.    B.    Wollen. 

12mo,  cloth,  price  $1.00, 

The  hero,  a  young  English  lad.  after  rather  a  stormy  boyhood, 
emigrates  to  Australia,  and  gets  employment  as  an  officer  in  the 
mounted  police.  A  few  years  of  active  work  on  the  frontier, 
where  he  has  many  a  brush  with  both  natives  and  bushrangers, 
gain  him  promotion  to  a  captaincy,  and  he  eventually  settles 
down  to  the  peaceful  life  of  a  squatter. 

"  Mr.  Henty  has  never  published  a  more  readable,  a  more  carefully  con- 
structed, or  a  better  written  story  than  this  ''"'—Spectator. 

Under  Drake's  Flag :  A  Tale  of  the  Spanish  Main.     By  G.  A. 

Henty.     With  full-page  Illustrations  by  Gordon  Browne. 

12mo,  cloth,  price  $1.00. 

A  story  of  the  days  when  England  and  Spain  struggled  for  the 
supremacy  of  the  sea.  The  heroes  sail  as  lads  with  Drake  in  the 
Pacific  expedition,  and  in  his  great  voyage  of  circumnavigation. 
The  histoiical  portion  of  the  story  is  absolutely  to  be  relied  upon, 
but  this  will  perhaps  be  less  attractive  than  the  great  variety  of 
exciting  adventure  through  which  the  young  heroes  pass  in  the 
course  of  their  voyages. 

"  A  book  of  adventure,  where  the  hero  meets  with  experience  enough,  one 
would  think,  to  turn  his  hair  gray."— flarper's  Monthly  Magazine. 

By  Sheer  Pluck  :  A  Tale  of  the  Ashanti  War.     By  G.  A.  Henty. 

With  full- page    Illustrations   by  Gordon    Browne.     12mo, 

cloth,  price  $1.00. 

The  author  has  woven,  in  a  tale  of  thrilling  interest,  all  the  de- 
tails of  the  Ashanti  campaign,  of  which  he  was  himself  a  witness. 
His  hero,  after  many  exciting  adventures  in  the  interior,  is  de- 
tained a  prisoner  by  the  king  just  before  the  outbreak  of  the  war, 
but  escapes,  and  accompanies  the  English  expedition  on  their 
march  to  Coomassie. 

"  Mr.  Henty  keeps  up  his  reputation  as  a  writer  of  boys'  stories.  *  By  Sheer 
Pluck '  will  be  eagerly  read."— ^t/iencewM. 


A.  L.  BtrHT'S  PtTBLICAl^IOKS. 


By  Pike  and  Dyke  :  A  Tale  of  the  Rise  of  the  Dutch  Republic. 
By  G.  A.  Henty.     With  full-page  Illustrations  by  Maynard 
Brown,  and  4  Maps.     12mo,  cloth,  price  $1.00. 
In  this  story  Mr.  Henty  traces  the  adventures  and  brave  deeds 
of  an  English  boy  in  the  household  of  the  ablest  man  of  his  age — 
William  the  Silent.     Edward  Martin,  the  son  of  an  English  sea- 
captain,  enters  the  service  of  the  Prince  as  a  volunteer,  and  is  em- 
ployed by  him  in  many  dangerous  and  responsible  missions,  in  the 
discharge  of  which  he  passes  through  the  great  sieges  of  the  time. 
He  ultimately  settles  down  as  Sir  Edward  Martin. 

"  Boys  with  a  turn  for  historical  research  will  be  enchanted  with  the  book, 
while  the  rest  who  only  care  for  adventure.will  be  students  in  spite  of  them- 
selves."— St.  James''  Gazette. 

St.  George  for  England :  A  Tale  of  Cressy  and  Poitiers.  By 
G.  A.  Henty.  With  full-page  Illustrations  by  Gordon 
Browne.     12mo,  cloth,  price  $1.00. 

No  portion  of  English  history  is  more  crowded  with  great  events 
than  that  of  the  reign  of  Edward  III.  Cressy  and  Poitiers;  tha 
destruction  of  the  Spanish  fleet;  the  plague  of  the  Black  Death; 
the  Jacquerie  rising;  these  are  treated  by  the  author  in  *'  St. 
George  for  England."  The  hero  of  the  story,  although  of  good 
family,  begins  life  as  a  London  apprentice,  but  after  countless  ad; 
ventures  and  perils  becomes  by  valor  and  good  conduct  the  squire, 
and  at  last  the  trusted  friend  of  the  Black  Prince. 

"Mr.  Henty  has  developed  for  himself  a  type  of  historical  novel  for  boys 
which  bids  fair  to  supplement,  on  their  behalf,  the  historical  labors  of  Sir 
Walter  Scott  in  the  land  of  fiction."— TTte  Standard. 

Captain's  Kidd's  Gold :  The  True  Story  of  an  Adventurous  Sailor 
Boy.  By  Jambs  Franklin  FiTTS.  12mo,  cloth,  price  $1.00. 
There  is  something  fascinating  to  the  average  youth  in  the  very 
idea  of  buried  treasure.  A  vision  arises  before  his  eyes  of  swarthy 
Portuguese  and  Spanish  rascals,  with  black  beards  and  gleaming 
eyes — sinister-looking  fellows  who  once  on  a  time  haunted  the 
Spanish  Main,  sneaking  out  from  some  hidden  creek  in  their  long, 
low  schooner,  of  picaroonish  rake  and  sheer,  to  attack  an  unsus- 
pecting trading  craft.  There  were  many  famous  sea  rovers  in 
their  day,  but  none  more  celebrated  than  Capt.  Kidd.  Perhaps 
the  most  fascinating  tale  of  all  is  Mr.  Fitts'  true  story  of  an  adven 
turous  American  boy,  who  receives  from  his  dying  father  an 
ancient  bit  of  vellum,  which  the  latter  obtained  in  a  curious  way. 
The  document  bears  obscure  directions  purporting  to  locate  a  cer- 
tain island  in  the  Bahama  group,  and  a  considerable  treasure 
buried  there  by  two  of  Kidd's  crew.  The  hero  of  this  book, 
Paul  Jones  Garry,  is  an  ambitious,  persevering  lad,  of  salt-water 
New  England  ancestry,  and  his  efforts  to  reach  the  island  and 
secure  the  money  form  one  of  the  most  absorbing  tales  for  our 
youth  that  has  come  from  the  press*. 


A.  L.  BiTRt'S  PtJBLICAf  lOKS. 


Captain  Bayley's  Heir :  A  Tale  of  the  Gold  Fields  of  California. 

By  Q.   A.    Henty.     With  full-page  Illustrations   by  H.   M. 

Paget.     12mo,  cloth,  price  $1.00. 

A  frank,  manly  lad  and  his  cousin  are  rivals  in  the  heirship'of  a 
considerable  property.  The  former  falls  into  a  trap  laid  by  the 
latter,  and  while  under  a  false  accusation  of  theft  foolishly  leaves 
England  for  America.  He  works  his  passage  before  the  mast, 
joins  a  small  band  of  hunters,  crosses  a  tract  of  country  infested 
with  Indians  to  the  Calif ornian  gold  diggings,  and  is  successful 
both  as  digger  and  trader. 

"Mr.  Henty  is  careful  to  mingle  instruction  with  entertainment;  and  the 
humorous  touches,  especially  in  the  sketch  of  John  HoU,  the  Westminster 
dustman,  Dickens  himself  could  hardly  have  excelled."— C^riaiian  Leader. 

For  Name  and  Fame  ;  or,  Through  Afghan  Passes.      By  G.  A. 

Henty.     With  full-page  Illustrations  by  Gordon  Bbowne. 

12mo,  cloth,  price  $1.00. 

An  interesting  story  of  the  last  war  in  Afghanistan.  The  hero, 
after  being  wrecked  and  going  through  many  stirring  adventures 
among  the  Malays,  finds  his  way  to  Calcutta  and  enlists  in  a  regi- 
ment proceeding  to  join  the  army  at  the  Afghan  passes.  He  ac- 
companies the  force  under  General  Roberts  to  the  Peiwar  Kotal, 
is  wounded,  taken  prisoner,  carried  to  Cabul,  whence  he  is  trans- 
ferred to  Candahar,  and  takes  part  in  the  final  defeat  of  the  army 
of  Ayoub  Khan. 

"The best  feature  of  the  book— apart  from  the  interest  of  its  scenes  of  ad- 
venture—is its  honest  effort  to  do  justice  to  the  patriotism  of  the  Afghan 
people."— Z)ai7|/  News.^ 

Captured  by  Apes  :  The  Wonderful  Adventures  of  a  Young 
Animal  Trainer.  By  Harry  Prentice.  12mo,  cloth,  $1.00. 
The  scene  of  this  tale  is  laid  on  an  island  in  the  Malay  Archi- 
pelago. Philip  Garland,  a  young  animal  collector  and  trainer,  of 
New  York,  sets  sail  for  Eastern  seas  in  quest  of  a  new  stock  of 
living  curiosities.  The  vessel  is  wrecked  off  the  coast  of  Borneo 
and  young  Garland,  the  sole  survivor  of  the  disaster,  is  cast  ashore 
on  a  small  island,  and  captured  by  the  apes  that  overrun  the 
place.  The  lad  discovers  that  the  ruling  spirit  of  the  monkey 
tribe  is  a  gigantic  and  vicious  baboon,  whom  he  identifies  as 
Goliah,  an  animal  at  one  time  in  his  possession  and  with  whose 
instruction  he  had  been  especially  diligent.  The  brute  recognizes 
him,  and  with  a  kind  of  malignant  satisfaction  puts  his  former 
master  through  the  same  course  of  training  he  had  himself  ex- 
perienced with  a  faithfulness  of  detail  which  shows  how  astonish- 
ing is  monkey  recollection.  Very  novel  indeed  is  the  way  by 
which  the  young  man  escapes  death.  Mr.  Prentice  has  certainly 
worked  a  new  vein  on  juvenile  fiction,  and  the  ability  with  which 
he  handles  a  difficult  subject  stamps  him  as  a  writer  of  undoubted 
skUl. 


A.  L.  BURT'S  PUBLICATIONS. 


The  Bravest  of  the  Brave ;  or,  With  Peterborough    in  Spain. 

By  G.    A.    Henty.     With   full-page  Illustrations   by   H.    M. 

Paget,     12mo,  cloth,  price  $1.00. 

There  are  few  great  leaders  whose  lives  and  actions  have  so 
completely  fallen  into  oblivion  as  those  of  the  Earl  of  Peter- 
borough. This  is  largely  due  to  the  fact  that  they  were  over- 
shadowed by  the  glory  and  successes  of  Marlborough.  His  career 
as  general  extended  over  little  more  than  a  year,  and  yet,  in  that 
time,  he  showed  a  genius  for  warfare  which  has  never  been  sur- 


"  Mr.  Henty  never  loses  sight  of  the  moral  purpose  of  his  work— to  enforce 
the  doctrine  of  courage  and  truth.  Lads  will  read  '  The  Bravest  of  the  Brave  ' 
with  pleasure  and  profit;  of  that  we  are  quite  sure.'"— Daily  Telegraph. 

The  Cat  of  Bubastes  :  A  Story  of  Ancient  Egypt.     By  G.  A. 

Henty.   With  full-page  Illustrations.  12mo,  cloth,  price  $1,00. 

A  story  which  will  give  young  readers  an  unsurpassed  insight 
into  the  customs  of  the  Egyptian  people.  Amuba,  a  prince  of  the 
Rebu  nation,  is  carried  with  his  charioteer  Jethro  into  slavery. 
They  become  inmates  of  the  house  of  Ameres,  the  Egyptian  high- 
priest,  and  are  happy  in  his  service  until  the  priest's  son  acci- 
dentally kills  the  sacred  cat  of  Bubastes.  In  an  outburst  of  popular 
fury  Ameres  is  killed,  and  it  rests  with  Jethro  and  Amuba  to 
secure  the  escape  of  the  high-priest's  son  and  daughter. 

"  The  story,  from  the  critical  moment  of  the  killing  of  the  sacred  cat  to  the 
perilous  exodus  into  Asia  with  which  it  closes,  is  very  skillfully  constructed 
and  full  of  exciting  adventures.  It  is  admirably  Ulustrated.''''— Saturday 
Review. 

With  Washington  at  Monmouth :  A  Story  of  Three  Phila- 
delphia Boys.  By  James  Otis.  12mo,  cloth,  price  $1.00. 
Three  Philadelphia  boys,  Seth  Graydon  "whose  mother  con- 
ducted a  boarding-house  which  was  patronized  by  the  British 
officers;"  Enoch  Ball,  "son  of  that  Mrs.  Ball  whose  dancing 
school  was  situated  on  Letitia  Street,"  and  little  Jacob,  son  of 
"  Chris,  the  Baker,"  serve  as  the  principal  characters.  The 
story  is  laid  during  the  winter  when  Lord  Howe  held  possession 
of  the  city,  and  the  lads  aid  the  cause  by  assisting  the  American 
spies  who  make  regular  and  frequent  visits  from  Valley  Forge. 
One  reads  here  of  home-life  in  the  captive  city  when  bread  was 
scarce  among  the  people  of  the  lower  classes,  and  a  reckless  prodi- 
gality shown  by  the  British  officers,  who  passed  the  winter  in 
feasting  and  merry-making  while  the  members  of  the  patriot  army 
but  a  few  miles  away  were  suffering  from  both  cold  and  hunger. 
The  story  abounds  with  pictures  of  Colonial  life  skillfully 
drawn,  and  the  glimpses  of  Washington's  soldiers  which  are  given 
show  that  the  work  has  not  been  hastily  done,  or  without  con- 
siderable study. 


A.  L.  BURT'S  PUBLICATIONS.  9 

For  the  Temple :  A  Tale  of  the  Fall  of  Jerusalem.     By  G.  A. 

Henty.  With  full-page  Illustrations  by  S.  J.  Solomon.  12mo, 

cloth,  price  $1.00. 

Mr.  Henty  here  vA^eaves  into  the  record  of  Josephus  an  admirable 
and  attractive  story.  The  troubles  in  the  district  of  Tiberias,  the 
march  of  the  legions,  the  sieges  of  Jotapata,  of  Gamala,  and  of 
Jerusalem,  form  the  impressive  and  carefully  studied  historic 
setting  to  the  figure  of  the  lad  who  passes  from  the  vineyard  to 
the  service  of  Josephus,  becomes  the  leader  of  a  guerrilla  band  of 
patriots,  fights  bravely  for  the  Temple,  and  after  a  brief  term  of 
slavery  at  Alexandria,  returns  to  his  Galilean  home  with  the  favor 
of  Titus. 

"  Mr.  Henty 's  graphic  prose  pictures  of  the  hopeless  Jewish  resistance  to 
Roman  sway  add  another  leaf  to  his  record  of  the  famous  wars  of  the  world." 
— Graphic. 

Facing  Death  ;  or.  The  Hero  of  the  Vaughan  Pit.     A  Tale  of 
the  Coal  jMines.     By  G.   A.   Henty.     With  full-page  Illustra- 
tions by  Gordon  Browne.     12mo,  cloth,  price  $1.00. 
"Facing  Death"  is  a  story  with  a  purpose.     It  is  intended  to 
show  that  a  lad  who  makes  up  his  mind  firmly  and  resolutely  that 
he  will  rise  in  life,  and  who  is  prepared  to  face  toil  and  ridicule 
and  hardship  to  carry  out  his  determination,  is  sure  to  succeed. 
The  hero  of  the  story  is  a  typical    British   boy,  dogged,  earnest, 
generous,  and  though  "  shamefaced"  to  a  degree,  is  ready  to  face 
death  in  the  discharge  of  duty. 

"  The  tale  is  well  written  and  well  illustrated,  and  there  is  much  reality  in 
the  characters.  If  any  father,  clergyman,  or  schoolmaster  is  on  the  lookout 
for  a  good  book  to  give  as  a  present  to  a  boy  who  is  ^orth  his  salt,  this  is  the 
book  we  would  recommend."— Sfandard. 

Tom  Temple's  Career.    By  Horatio   Alger.    13mo,   cloth, 

price  $1.00. 

Tom  Temple,  a  bright,  self-reliant  lad,  by  the  death  of  his 
father  becomes  a  boarder  at  the  home  of  Nathan  Middleton,  a 
penurious  insurance  agent.  Though  well  paid  for  keeping  the 
boy,  Nathan  and  his  wife  endeavor  to  bring  Master  Tom  in  line 
with  their  parsimonious  habits.  The  lad  ingeniously  evades  their 
efforts  and  revolutionizes  the  household.  As  Tom  is  heir  to 
$40,000,  he  is  regarded  as  a  person  of  some  importance  until  by 
an  unfortunate  combination  of  circumstances  his  fortune  shrinks 
to  a  few  hundreds.  He  leaves  Plympton  village  to  seek  work  in 
New  York,  whence  he  undertakes  an  important  mission  to  Cali- 
fornia, around  which  center  the  most  exciting  incidents  of  his 
young  career.  Some  of  his  adventures  in  the  far  west  are  so 
startling  that  the  reader  will  scarcely  close  the  book  until  the  last 
page  shall  have  been  reached.  The  tale  is  written  in  Mr.  Alger's 
most  fascinating  style,  and  is  bound  to  please  the  very  large  class 
of  boys  who  regard  this  popular  author  as  a  prime  favorite. 


10  A.  L.  BURT'S  PUBLICATIONS. 

Maori  and  Settler:  A  Story  of  the  New  Zealand  War.  By 
G.  A.  Henty.  Witli  full-page  Illustrations  by  Alfred  Pearse. 
12ino,  cloth,  price  $1.00. 

The  Renshaws  emigrate  to  New  Zealand  during  the  period  of 
the  war  with  the  natives.  Wilfrid,  a  strong,  self-reliant,  coura- 
geous lad,  is  the  mainstay  of  the  household.  He  has  for  his  friend 
Mr.  Atherton,  a  botanist  and  naturalist  of  herculean  strength  and 
unfailing  nerve  and  humor.  In  the  adventures  among  the  Maoris, 
there  are  many  breathless  moments  in  which  the  odds  seem  hope- 
lessly against  the  party,  but  they  succeed  in  establishing  them- 
selves happily  in  one  of  the  pleasant  New  Zealand  valleys. 

"Brimful  of  adventure,  of  humorous  and  interesting  conversation,  and 
vivid  pictures  of  colonial  Me^— Schoolmaster. 

Julian  MortimerJ:  A  Brave  Boy's  Struggle  for  Home  and  Fortune. 

By  Harry  Castlemon.     12mo,  cloth,  price  $1.00. 

Here  is  a  story  that  will  warm  every  boy's  heart.  There  is 
mystery  enough  to  keep  any  lad's  imagination  wound  up  to  the 
highest  pitch.  The  scene  of  the  story  lies  west  of  the  Mississippi 
River,  in  the  days  when  emigrants  made  their  perilous  way  across 
the  great  plains  to  the  land  of  gold.  One  of  the  startling  features 
of  the  book  is  the  attack  upon  the  wagon  train  by  a  large  party  of 
Indians.  Our  hero  is  a  lad  of  uncommon  nerve  and  pluck,  a  brave 
young  American  in  every  sense  of  the  word.  He  enlists  and  holds 
the  reader's  sympathy  from  the  outset.  Surrounded  by  an  un- 
known and  constant  peril,  and  assisted  by  the  unswerving  fidelity 
of  a  stalwart  trapper,  a  real  rough  diamond,  our  hero  achieves  the 
most  happy  results.  Harry  Castlemon  has  written  many  enter- 
taining stories  for  boys,  and  it  would  seem  almost  superfluous  to 
say  anything  in  his  praise,  for  the  youth  of  America  regard  him 
as  a  favorite  author. 

"Carrots:"  Just  a  Little  Boy.     By  Mrs.  Molesworth.     With 
Illustrations  by  Walter  Crane.     13mo,  cloth,  price  75  cents. 
"  One  of  the  cleverest  and  most  pleasing  stories  it  has  been  our  good  for- 
tune to  meet  with  for  some  time.    Carrots  and  his  sister  are  delightful  little 
beings,  whom  to  read  about  is  at  once  to  become  very  fond  ot.'"''— Examiner. 
"A  genuine  children's  book;  we've  seen  'em  seize  it,  and  read  it  greedily. 
Children  are  fii"st-rate  critics,  and  thoroughly  appreciate  Walter  Crane's 
illustrations.  "—PwncTi. 

Mopsa  the  Fairy.      By  Jean  Ingelow.      With  Eight  page 

Illustrations.     12mo,  cloth,  price  75  cents. 

"  Mrs.  Ingelow  is,  to  our  mind,  the  most  charming  of  all  living  writers  for 
children,  and  '  Mopsa'  alone  ought  to  give  her  a  kind  of  pre-emptive  right  to 
the  love  and  gratitude  of  our  young  folks.  It  requires  genius  to  conceive  a 
purely  imaginary  work  which  must  of  necessity  deal  with  the  supernatural, 
without  running  into  a  mere  riot  of  fantastic  absurdity;  but  genius  Miss  In- 
gelow has  and  the  story  of  '  Jack '  is  as  careless  and  joyous,  but  as  delicate, 
as  a  picture  of  childhood."— .EcZecfic. 


A.  L.  BURT'S  PUBLICATIONS.  11 

A  Jaunt  Through  Java :  The  Story  of  a  Journey  to  the  Sacred 
Mountain.  By  Edwakd  S.  Ellis.  12mo,  cloth,  price  |1.00. 
The  central  interest  of  this  story  is  found  in  the  thrilling  ad- 
ventures of  two  cousins,  Hermon  and  Eustace  Hadley,  on  their 
trip  across  the  island  of  Java,  from  Samarang  to  the  Sacred  Moun- 
tain. In  a  land  where  the  Royal  Bengal  tiger  runs  at  large; 
where  the  rhinoceros  and  other  fierce  beasts  are  to  be  met  with 
at  unexpected  moments;  it  is  but  natural  that  the  heroes  of  this 
book  should  have  a  lively  experience.  Hermon  not  only  dis- 
tinguishes himself  by  killing  a  full-grown  tiger  at  short  range, 
but  meets  with  the  most  startling  adventure  of  the  journey. 
There  is  much  in  this  narrative  to  instruct  as  well  as  entertain  the 
reader,  and  so  deftly  has  Mr.  Ellis  used  his  material  that  there  is 
not  a  dull  page  in  the  book.  The  two  heroes  are  brave,  manly 
young  fellows,  bubbling  over  with  boyish  independence.  They 
cope  with  the  many  diflBculties  that  arise  during  the  trip  in  a  fear- 
less way  that  is  bound  to  win  the  admiration  of  every  lad  who  is 
so  fortunate  as  to  read  their  adventures. 

Wrecked  on  Spider  Island;  or,  How  Ned  Rogers  Found  the 
Treasure.  By  James  Otis.  13mo,  cloth,  price  $1.00. 
A  "  down-east"  plucky  lad  who  ships  as  cabin  boy,  not  from 
love  of  adventure,  but  because  it  is  the  only  course  remaining  by 
which  he  can  gain  a  livelihood.  While  in  his  bunk,  seasick, 
Ned  Rogers  hears  the  captain  and  mate  discussing  their  plans  for 
the  willful  wreck  of  the  brig  in  order  to  gain  the  insurance.  Once 
it  is  known  he  is  in  posvsession  of  the  secret  the  captain  maroons 
him  on  Spider  Island,  explaining  to  the  crew  that  the  boy  is 
afflicted  with  leprosy.  While  thus  involuntarily  playing  the  part 
of  a  Crusoe,  Ned  discovers  a  wreck  submerged  in  the  sand,  and 
overhaul mg  the  timbers  for  the  purpose  of  gathering  material 
with  which  to  build  a  hut  finds  a  considerable  amount  of  treasure. 
Raising  the  wreck;  a  voyage  to  Havana  under  sail;  shipping  there 
a  crew  and  running  for  Savannah;  the  attempt  of  the  crew  to 
seize  the  little  craft  after  learning  of  the  treasure  on  board,  and, 
as  a  matter  of  course,  the  successful  ending  of  the  journey,  all 
serve  to  make  as  entertaining  a  story  of  sea-life  as  the  most 
captious  boy  could  desire. 

Geoff  and  Jim :  A  Story  of  School  Life.     By  Ismay  Thorn.     Il- 
lustrated by  A.  G.  Walker.     12mo,  cloth,  price  75  cents. 

"  This  is  a  prettily  told  story  of  the  life  spent  by  two  motherless  bairns  at 
a  small  preparatory  school.  Both  Geoff  and  Jim  are  very  lovable  characters, 
only  Jim  is  the  more  so;  and  the  scrapes  he  gets  into  and  the  trials  he  en- 
dures will,  no  doubt,  interest  a  large  circle  of  young  readers."— C/iwrc/i 
Times. 

"  This  is  a  capital  children's  story,  the  characters  well  portrayed,  and  the 
book  tastefully  bound  and  well  illustrated."— ScAooimasfer. 

"The  story  can  be  heartily  recommended  as  a  present  for  boys."— 
Standard. 


12  A.  L.  BURT'S  PUBLICATIONS. 

The  Castaways ;  or,  On  tlie  Florida  Reefs.     By  James  Otis. 

13mo,  cloth,  price  $1.00. 

This  tale  smacks  of  the  salt  sea.  It  is  just  tlie  kind  of  story 
that  the  majority  of  boys  yearn  for.  From  the  moment  that  the 
Sea  Queen  dispenses  with  the  services  of  the  tug  in  lower  New 
York  bay  till  the  breeze  leaves  her  becalmed  off  the  coast  of 
Florida,  one  can  almost  hear  the  whistle  of  the  wind  through  her 
rigging,  the  creak  of  her  straining  cordage  as  she  heels  to  the 
leeward,  and  feel  her  rise  to  the  snow-capped  waves  which  her 
sharp  bow  cuts  into  twin  streaks  of  foam.  Off  Marquesas  Keys 
she  floats  in  a  dead  calm.  Ben  Clark,  the  hero  of  the  story,  and 
Jake,  the  cook,  spy  a  turtle  asleep  upon  the  glassy  surface  of  the 
water.  They  determine  to  capture  him,  and  take  a  boat  for  that 
purpose,  and  just  as  they  succeed  in  catching  him  a  thick  fog 
cuts  them  off  from  the  vessel,  and  then  their  troubles  het  in. 
They  take  refuge  on  board  a  drifting  hulk,  a  storm  arises  and  they 
are  cast  ashore  upon  a  low  sandy  key.  Their  adventures  from 
this  point  cannot  fail  to  charm  the  reader.  As  a  writer  for  young 
people  Mr.  Otis  is  a  prime  favorite.  His  style  is  captivating,  and 
never  for  a  moment  does  he  allow  the  interest  to  flag.  In  "  The 
Castaways  "  he  is  at  his  best. 

Tom  Thatcher's  Fortune.    By  Horatio  Alger,  Jr.    12mo, 

cloth,  price  $1.00. 

Like  all  of  Mr.  Alger's  heroes,  Tom  Thatcher  is  a  brave,  am- 
bitious, unselfish  boy.  He  supports  his  mother  and  sister  on 
meager  wages  earned  as  a  shoe-pegger  in  John  Simpson's  factory. 
The  story  begins  with  Tom's  discharge  from  the  factory,  because 
Mr.  Simpson  felt  annoyed  with  the  lad  for  interrogating  him  too 
closely  about  his  missing  father.  A  few  days  afterward  Tom 
learns  that  which  induces  him  to  start  overland  for  California  with 
the  view  of  probing  the  family  mystery.  He  meets  with  many  ad- 
ventures. Ultimately  he  returns  to  his  native  vi  llage,  bringing  con- 
sternation to  the  soul  of  John  Simpson,  who  only  escapes  the  con- 
sequences of  his  villainy  by  making  full  restitution  to  the  man 
whose  friendship  he  had  betrayed.  The  story  is  told  in  that  en- 
tertaining way  which  has  made  Mr.  Alger's  name  a  household 
word  in  so  many  homes. 

Birdie  :  A  Tale  of  Child  lafe.     By  H.  L.  Childe-Pemberton. 

Illustrated  by  H.  W.  Rainey.     12mo,  cloth,  price  75  cents. 

"  The  story  is  quaint  and  simple,  but  there  is  a  freshness  about  it  that 
makes  one  hear  again  the  ringing  laugh  and  the  cheery  shout  of  children  at 
play  which  charmed  his  earlier  years.  ''''—New  York  Express. 

Popular  Fairy  Tales.    By  the  Brothers  Grimm.    Profusely 

Illustrated,  12mo,  cloth,  price  $1.00. 

"  From  first  to  last,  almost  without  exception,  these  stories  are  delightful." 
—Athenoeum. 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DBSK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 

Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


7  DAY  USE 

*J  U  t  \i  i » *  •:  fc«  i  t 

.  .; ;  i  i ..  i^  S 

JUL  1  0  RECD 

AUG  3  0  1SS7 

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1 

Berkeley 

YB  7838 


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